Ahead of his appeal of the nullification of his purported victory at the April 14, 2007 last Friday by the Election Petition Tribunal, the Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, has approached commercial banks to raise the sum of N3bn, the State Chapter of the Labour Party (LP) has alleged.

Agagu’s election was nullified while Dr Olusegun Mimiko of the LP was declared as the Governor elect in the Governorship election in the State by the Justice Garba Nabaruma Tribunal which ruled in the petition filed by Mimiko challenging the purported victory of Agagu in the April 14, 2007 election.

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In a release issued by the LP in Akure and signed by its Director of Press, Mr. Kolawole Olabisi, the Party disclosed that on Tuesday, Agagu through his close aides approached a consortium of major banks in the State which had been operating government accounts and compelled them to immediately make available to him a loan of N3bn with which he wished to prosecute his appeal case.

“Indeed, as we are raising this alarm, three of the Banks (names withheld) have already made available to the Government Account the sum of N900m which had been subsequently cashed by Agagu aides,” Olabisi disclosed.

While noting that although government is a continuous business, Olabisi, however insisted that no responsible government would inherit and service bad debt. His words: “The policies of the National Intelligence Commission (NAIC) are against borrowings by governments-federal, state and local government. So any corporate organs, particularly banks that get itself involve would have itself to blame. More so such banks heed the injunction handed down by Mr. President a few months ago that they must not allow themselves to be used by government agencies – Federal, State or Local to procure loans and overdrafts in a manner that runs against the principles of accountability which the present administration holds dearly. Banks  should be ‘sincere, prudent and transparent in their roles’, any precipitate borrowing by the present administration particularly during the last six months and especially in this transition period will certainly be revisited at the appropriate time in the overall interest of the people of our dear State,” Olabisi warned.

The LP also have a stern warning for public officials who will be called upon to be used not to allow themselves to be used to defraud the state, adding that when Agagu is eventually forced out, they will be called upon to account for their deeds.

“We specifically want to remind such civil servants to take into cognizance what recently happened during the Power and Steel probe panel at the House of Representatives when Agagu, during his testimonies as a former Power and Steel Minister, told the panel that it was the civil servants in his Ministry then that were responsible for Government paying $6.5bn to unregistered companies. This is very instructive and would definitely be their lot when Agagu is eventually thrown out of the office he currently occupies at the Appeal Court. The people of Ondo State are watching and God Himself is watching and in the fullness of time, everybody would be made to account for their deeds and misdeeds.”

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