The Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has questioned the rationale behind the recent trip of Mr Rauf Aregbesola to Qatar, which, according to the party, is the 34thin the 22-month-old government.
The party is also challenging Mr Aregbesola to refute its findings that over N1 billion had been expended on the 34 trips with nothing to show in the state despite the government’s claim ofmeeting and inviting investors.
But the state Commissioner for Information, Chief Sunday Akere, denied that the government had spent so much on foreign trips, adding that “we are not reckless in spending as Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s administration and our governor, Mr Aregbesola, has never embarked on any trip that would not bring benefits to the people of Osun State.”
He said that Aregbesola was in Qatar to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with foreign partners on Dagbolu International Market.
The PDP, in a statement issued by its Director of Publicity, Prince Diran Odeyemi, said, “we are aware that Mr Aregbesola is right now in Qatar with the Speaker of the State House of Assembly Honourable Najeem Salaam, two aides and 10 of his Lagos-based business associates.”
Reacting to the allegation, the state Commissioner for Information, Chief Sunday Akere, explained that Rauf Aregbesola and the Speaker, Osun State House of Assembly, were in Qatar to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with foreign partners on the development of Dagbolu International Market which was targeted to serve the whole of theSouth-West zone.