My overseas trips in Osun’s interest – Aregbesola
From MUTIU GANIYU, Osogbo
Monday, September 12, 2011
Aregbesola
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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Governor Rauf Aregbesola has said his overseas trips since he assumed duties have been in the interest of the state and have never affected the running of the state negatively.

Speaking at the end of the activities marking the 20th anniversary of the state at the weekend in Osogbo, the governor said his detractors were making a mountain out of a mole hill. Aregbesola said he always ensured that his Deputy, Otunba Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, held forth and performed state functions to his satisfaction whenever he was not around.

He said his travelling was on record and he would continue to meet people who could assist him in turning the fortune of the state around.
Aregbesola accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of spreading rumour of his ill-health, saying he was hale and hearty and rumor mongers would be afflicted with the alleged disease.

“Having been defeated on that front, they started making issues out of my few travels. My travels are public and on records. The first was to the Borough of Southwark in the United Kingdom, purely on official assignment, to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Borough on behalf of councils in the state on areas of mutual understanding,” he said.
He said his second trip to Dubai was undertaken to attend the convocation of his daughter “from where I proceeded to India for medical check up.”

He reminded the gathering that he had made this known before travelling that after the exhaustion of the struggle for his mandate’s retrieval and the rigorous campaign for the April/May general election, that he needed to rest, which lasted for only one week. Aregbesola stated that his trip to Dubai and India were carried out purely on his personal account while no state fund was involved, saying “anyone in doubt can check the records.”

He said: “My next travel was to China on state visit at the invitation of All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), the first to be extended to any state governor in Nigeria. This was facilitated by the executive secretary of Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU). Agreements were signed that would make Chinese firms to establish industries in Osun State and enable our state access official Chinese government assistance. The trip was a huge success.” Commenting on his last trip to Saudi Arabia for the lesser Hajj popularly called Umrah in Arabic, the governor told the gathering that it was also at his personal expense as it had been his practice for the past 12 years.

He described his critics as jobless, disclosing that when he had a case in Abuja, the presiding magistrate granted him permission to perform the lesser Hajj and returned home to resume the case.“I leave those who engineered this wicked and malicious lie in the hand of God but I want them to know that they will also have what they wish for others. It is a divine principle that what you sow, you reap,” he declared.


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