Osun Governor Aregbesola Denies Slapping Deputy. Governor of Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has denied rumours that he slapped his deputy, Mrs. Grace Tomori, stressing that the rumor was aimed at causing rift in the state. The governor said a cordial relationship exists between himself and his deputy. “I have never beaten anybody in my life,” the governor claimed, adding, “In fact, I don’t beat my children, let alone beating any other person. More so, the Deputy Governor is older than me, so how do I beat an elderly person.” Speaking during a seven- hour live programme tagged ‘Ogbeni till day break,’ weekend, Aregbesola maintained: “I don’t have any quarrel with my Deputy, and I can’t have any with her because I intentionally chose her and no one choose her for me. “I think I can work with her and that is why I chose her. So, no differences exist between us.” The deputy governor who was also present at the programme confirmed the claims of the governor when she was asked to respond to the allegation that the governor once slapped her. The deputy governor stressed that a cordial relationship exists between them, adding that she would remain loyal to the governor despite the works of detractors. Aregbesola also denied insinuation that the debt profile of the state has risen to N300 billion, saying that the opposition was only making the allegation to destabilise the progress of the state and cause confusion. The debt of the state he said was basically to make the state economically viable. The World Bank confirmed that the Federal Government’s Youth Employment and Social Support Operation (YESSO) was replicated from the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) started by Aregbesola, even as the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala observed that Aregbesola, through his programmes, has demonstrated that good governance is possible. The noted that the nation would be great economically only if its people became very productive. On the crisis rocking the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), Governor Aregbesola said: “Let the NGF take care of itself. The forum is a voluntary one and it is not compulsory that every Governor is a member.”
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 07:03:50 +0000