Date Published: 11/14/11

Go to Court on Micro-Credit Loans Defaulters, Oni challenges Fayemi

Chief Segun Oni

Former Governor of Ekiti State, Chief Segun Oni has challenged the State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi not to waste time in carrying out his threat to institute legal action against defaulters of the State Micro Credit Scheme, saying; “claim by Fayemi that my aides refused to repay N2.2 billion micro credit loan is a blatant lie because the total loan we gave out was N1.5 billion out of which over N400 million was repaid by the beneficiaries before we left office.”

Oni, who was reacting to threat by the State government to press charges against the loan defaulters through his Media Aide, Mr. Lere Olayinka noted that “it is becoming worrisome the rate at which the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) government tells lies against us, even more than 12 months after we left office, and this time around; Fayemi and his men must publish names of the aides they are talking about.”

The former governor, who advised the Fayemi-led government to face the task of governing Ekiti people well and stop chasing his (Oni) shadows, said; “Religious bodies like Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), musicians association, artisans, wives of traditional rulers and other individuals and groups in Ekiti State mentored their people, who took the micro credit loan, and it remains to be seen how all these people have now become Oni’s aides.“Besides, what we spent on Micro Credit was N1.5 billion and over N400 million was repaid before we left office. So where did they get their N2.2 billion?”

While reiterating his call for a thorough audit of the State finances from May 29, 2007 till date, Oni said; “Even though we are not supposed to be bandying words with a group of bandits, who purchased power with the ill-gotten wealth of a man whose origin is not known, and has failed to add a single block to the development of Ekiti State in spite of the over N60 billion that they got from the federation account, no sane mind would keep silent while some indolent people go about tarnishing the names of good people just to justify their
failure.

“The other time, they said we left behind N40 billion debt, we challenged them to publish the details, they couldn’t. The second time, they said we stole N5.4 billion through overpayment for contracts, we asked them to institute a probe panel with nominees of reputable bodies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (ICAN), Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors and others as members, they chickened out!

“Now it is idle talk of Oni’s aides owing N2.2 billion micro credit loan, why can’t these people stop lying and face the task of redeeming their battered image?

“Isn’t it even ridiculous that each time failure is staring these people in the face; they will cook up allegations of fraud against us and rush to the media for their usual media trial?

“Therefore, Fayemi should be bold enough to allow a proper investigation of how Ekiti State money was spent in the last four years. If he is unable to do this, he should be told in clear terms that time has come for him to stop peddling falsehood against people whose reputation and character, himself and his godfather, Bola Ahmed Tinubu cannot match.”