TVC N. The All Progressives Congress has accused some politicians in Osun State and retired Justice Olamide Oloyede of using pensioners in the state to create an impression that Governor Rauf Aregbesola is an insensitive leader.
Some pensioners in the state had, on Monday, erected some canopies at the Freedom Park in Osogbo, which they called Internally Displaced Pensioners’ camp. The pensioners were fed and some of them were screened by some doctors brought to the camp by a non-governmental organisation headed by the retired judge.
But the APC said the motive of Oloyede and other unnamed politicians, who they claimed sponsored the provision of the food at the IDP camp, was political than humanitarian.
The ruling party argued that the distribution of food to the pensioners was a “display of sham hospitality by those who are fixated on delegitimising and slandering the APC government led by Rauf Aregbesola.”
The ruling party described as false the claim by the pensioners that the governor diverted the funds meant to pay salaries and pensions.
The statement added, “The party rejected a situation in which uninformed people give greater credence to false news than facts.
“Only days before this hospitality event in Osogbo, the governor had given a blow-by-blow account of how he disbursed money for salaries and pensions covering September, October, November and December before the New Year.”
The party’s spokesperson also urged members of the public and whoever was interested in knowing the fact to check with the state government.
It stated, “No amount of slander, blackmail and negative publicity will diminish the facts of what has been done by Governor Aregbesola for the good of Osun people despite the challenges confronting the state.
“Those behind the ‘Internally Displaced Pensioners Camp’ in Osogbo are exploiters, whose motives are political than humanitarian.”