Ogun State House of Assembly, on Tuesday, challenged the state government to a televised public debate as a precondition for the approval of the contentious N100bn bond which the latter seeks.



In a committee of the whole house presided over by the speaker, Mr. Tunji Egbetokun, the assembly frowned at what it termed the state government’s “loads of inconsistent financial documents” and urged the Governor Gbenga Daniel’s administration to avail itself of the debate for proper understanding by both parties.



The House session, which held under heavy security, was also used by the assembly to deliberate on the 26bn supplementary budget request by the state government.



Egbetokun stressed that the easiest way to end the bond issue was to have a public debate.



He said, ‘‘I am not being controlled or remoted. On this bond issue, I have been offered 12m at a single meeting, even 1bn by one of the peace brokers. I am not very rich but I am comfortable. What we are doing is for the sake of posterity.



“The easiest way to end this bond issue is to have a public debate. It will be aired live on the state-owned broadcast stations. If the government wins, we will go straight to the plenary and pass it. But we are not convinced at the moment. The debate can last for three hours. We will bring the documents they have provided us and urge them to come along with other documents to justify the need for the bond. It will be between their team of finance managers and members of the assembly.’’



The assembly further asked the government to answer questions on the repayment plan, why projects already taken care of in the 2010 budget needed to be financed again in the bond and how they would have direct impact on the people.



The House also rejected the request for the supplementary budget, saying that there are still unspent funds in the earlier approved N88.09bn 2010 budget. It, therefore, advised the state government to do budget realignment, saying there was no need for the request.



In an emergency meeting at the state secretariat Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, the state government, speaking through its Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Sina Kaswonise said it would not be part of any public debate on the bond and accused the lawmakers of playing politics with a serious issue.



Kawonise said, ‘‘They are just playing politics. They are just denying the obvious, denying the truth. We will not be part of a debate which is meant to insult the people of Ogun State or acquiesce into an issue meant to turn serious issue into banality. Whatever their agenda is, we leave the people of Ogun State to judge. Their agenda is to cripple the government and the Peoples Democratic Party and move to another party. It is not more than that.”

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I just too like these Ogun Legislatures.

An adage in yoruba language says "if you want to catch a monkey, throw banana at him"