The Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf. Aregbesola, has accused a former Deputy Governor of the state, Senator Iyiola Omisore, of defaulting in tax payment from 2014 till date.
According to a statement in Osogbo on Monday by Aregbesola’s media aide, Mr. Sola Fasure, the governor said this at a dinner.
Aregbesola, the statement added, stated that Omisore last paid a tax of N25, 000.00 to the state in 2013.
Aregbesola said the former deputy governor, who is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, was not competent to criticise his administration because Omisore and the PDP allegedly plunged the state and the country into socio-economic and political coma.
Aregbesola accused Omisore of being mischievous, saying it was unfortunate that he (Omisore) had not learned from “his self-inflicted political sojourn and travail.”
Aregbesola said, “I can say it without any form of equivocation that Omisore is a shameless person who doesn’t know what is next in his life. He is a shameless liar because all he accused us of are those things they failed to do while they were in government.
“I want him to ask himself the impact he made on the lives of the people of the state, particularly his constituents, while he was in the Senate?
“He couldn’t complete tangible projects, but rather nursed his insatiable appetite for wealth accumulation. Most of the projects we did in Osun East Senatorial District today ought to have been done years back if the PDP-led government then did the needful,” he stressed.
Aregbesola added, “As of today, he (Omisore) still owes Osun government backlog of taxes. The last tax of N25,000 he paid was in 2013, meaning that he is a tax defaulter.
But Omisore while reacting in a text message said the claims of the governor were unfounded and ridiculous. He stated that he had been paying his taxes correctly, adding that he did not need to be reminded of his obligations to the state.
He said the ‘baseless allegations’ raised by the governor were not an answer to the alleged recklessness of the administration which he claimed had plunged the state into a debt bondage which would take about 25 years to repay.
He said, “To put the record straight, I have paid my personal tax as and when due as the principal partner of the Mechelec Consultants Limited based in Abuja. So, who descend to personal issues? I maintain that your (Aregbesola) government is the most corrupt in Nigeria since independence.
“What has tax got to do with budget and bankruptcy in Osun? It is because that he could not give a proper account of his almost eight years in Osun…
“Is that why he cannot pay wages and salaries of workers, including pensioners? That is a poser for him. He does not know what to say again.”