Gov. Adeleke and the Satanic N19bn Extra-budgetary spending

In the last four days, the propaganda of the Babylonian government in Osun State has been at full throttle, with different media rottweilers falling over themselves to deodorize the political and financial satanism going on in the government of Senator Ademola Adeleke, especially after the Sunday's exposure of the lifeless administration by the Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prince Adebayo Adeleke (BANIK).

However, rather than addressing the fundamental issues broached by Prince BANIK and other APC ideologues, the compulsive liars and pedicular savages employed to rationalize the alleged infractions of the government have been rolling in the gutter like pigs, cursing, threatening and convulsing like someone battling with epileptic seizure. To them, asking Governor Ademola Adeleke to be transparent and accountable is a grievous sin of sedition and libel for which we must be physically assaulted, emotionally subjugated or sent to Ayeso or Kosere prisons to serve as a lesson to other good governance advocates in the state . These elements are yet to come to terms with reality that gone were the days when innocent citizens like Otunba Raheem Ade Komolafe and Agboola Obadare would be bullied to submission without any repercussion. Bullies nowadays have to account for their malignity just as responsible and dispassionate Nigerians do not rely on beer parlour conversation to form their political opinions. 

Above said, we move to another pressing matter. It is no longer news that of the N15billion projected by the Adeleke-led government as 2024 revenue from Natural and Mineral Resources, only miserable N27million was made in the first-half of the year ( Jan-June 2024). It is also no news again that while the government spent N402million on that sector in 2023, the state of the Omoluabi only made a revenue of N30million. Ditto for the Q1 and Q2 of 2024 where though Osun made ridiculous N27m, the government incurred N80million expenses.

Again, it is also no news that the Office of the Governor has spent N27billion in the last 20 months that Governor Adeleke came on board: N19billion in 2023 and N8billion in the first two quarters of 2024. But what is news is that the governor spent money for his office in 2023 without approval, in gross violation of the extant laws, particularly the Section 3 (ii) of the state's Appropriation Law of 2023 and Sections 22 (4) and  and 22 (5) of the ICPC Act 2000 (As amended).

Recall that the original 2023 budget for the Office of the Governor, as signed on November 2022 by ex-Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, was N6.2billion. N1.1billion for Personnel Cost, N608million for Capital Projects and N4.4bn for Recurrent Expenditures. But on August 15, 2023, Governor Adeleke presented to and got a supplementary budget passed into law by the Osun State House of Assembly. In the Supplementary Budget, extra N10.1billion was added on the original budget of N6.2bn to make it N16.3bn. While N6.5bn was added on Recurrent and N3.6bn on Capital, the Personnel Cost, strangely, remained static. 

The budget over-bloat came at a time the budget for Agriculture, UNIOSUN, Sports and other keys sectors were cut down. But despite the hues and cries that attended the insane budget increment last year, Governor Adeleke still went ahead to spend N19.2billion, as against N16.4billion approved for him in the unpatriotic Supplementary Budget, thus engaging in extra-budgetary and unuthorized spending amounting to N2.8billion.

The action of the governor, apart from breaching the Fiscal Responsibility Law of the state, made the budget a mere ritual and formality, rather than an instrument for planning and accountability. 

The Section 3 (ii) of the Appropriation Law earlier quoted clearly states that no money should be spent outside the amount approved in the budget. 

The relevant sections of the ICPC Act also criminalize spending government money not approved by the legislature. Penalty for such an irresponsible conduct is imprisonment. 

We task the state government of Osun to shed more light on this alleged illegal spending. 

BANIK MEDIA TEAM