Wife of ex-governor Gboyega OyetolaKafayate has dismissed as false the allegation that she left with her official car at the end of her husband’s term.
Mrs. Oyetola’s spokesperson, Rotimi Ajayi, expressed her position on Friday while responding to allegations that 11 vehicles used as official vehicles by the former governor, his wife, deputies and some of his aides were taken away.
Mr. Ajayi told our reporter that the official vehicle used by the wife of the former governor was a Toyota Land Cruiser and “does not belong to the state government”.
However, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state admitted that Mr. Oyetola, his deputy and former commissioners went in official vehicles but said they had the right to do so.
Mr. Ajayi said his boss used his personal car during the four years she was the first lady of the state.
“The vehicle that was in the possession of the former governor’s wife, an official vehicle, did not belong to the state in the first place. He was using his car throughout. I’m sure they don’t have their papers right,” he said.
Mr. Ajayi explained that Mrs. Oyetola left Osogbo for Lagos at the end of her husband’s tenure as governor of Osun State.
He said he traveled by plane from Ibadan airport to Lagos.
“There is no place where the wife of the former governor removed any vehicle from here. Maybe we should shed some light on how they left Osun. They went from Ibadan to Lagos and the escort that took them from Osogbo to Ibadan returned to Osogbo,” he said.
“I told you apart from his private vehicle, that is a Toyota Cruiser, no other vehicle,” he added.
The spokesperson also stated that Mrs. Oyetola bought some vehicles used for her husband’s failed election campaign, stressing that “the vehicles were private”.
“Of course, we have some buses that we bought, private, that we used for the elections. So that allegation is completely false, some mischievous elements who did not understand how government works and people who were not even trained to govern and who did not go to reveal the information or details of which vehicles were assigned. This information is completely false.”
On his part, the Chief Press Secretary to former governor Ismail Omipidan Oyetola said he will soon react to the allegation.
“We will react, give us some time,” he said.
Oyetola, MPs left with the vehicles that allow them to occupy their offices – APC
However, in his reaction, Kola Olabisi, the media director of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, said in a statement on Friday evening that former governor Oyetola and his deputy are entitled to “certain privileges”. state
Mr. Olabisi stated that Mr. Oyetola and his former deputy left their offices “with the vehicles that their offices allow them to take home”.
“For clarity, the former governor and his deputy, by law and convention, are entitled to certain privileges and they are well documented. Apart from the vehicles that their offices allow them to take home, they never took anything else,” he said.
The APC media director further explained that the former governor agreed that his commissioners and other appointees should go home in official vehicles.
He described the act as a gift for “meritorious service to the state”.
“As for the commissioners and other appointees who are also legally entitled, the governor formally granted them used official vehicles as gifts for their meritorious service to the state, as they are not entitled to any pension or gratuity.
“It is also important to point out that this gesture is not limited to political appointees as in the past, even career civil servants were allowed to return home with used vehicles as gifts on retirement for meritorious service to the state.
“This fact can be verified as an administration before the practice of the recent past. The Osun PDP-led government must, for once, be serious and stop acting like comedians,” Mr. Olabisi said.
However, Senator Oriolowo Adelere, who is also accused of illegally possessing a state vehicle, did not respond to calls and messages sent to his phone number over his reaction to the allegation.
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