Former Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, says his administration was free of debt when he left office in 2018.

Aregbesola who is now the Minister of Interior reacted to the statement credited to Bola Oyebamiji, the former Commissioner for Finance under the administration of the immediate past governor, Gboyega Oyetola

He was the governor of Osun between 2010 and 2018, after which he was succeeded by Oyetola.

Oyetola lost his bid to seek re-election and Ademola Adeleke was sworn in as Osun governor in November.

Earlier on Thursday, Adeleke said his predecessor took an N18 billion loan after the July governorship election in the state, adding that Osun is indebted to the tune of N407.32 billion.

Adeleke said Oyetola must explain why the state was owing N76 billion in salaries and pensions despite receiving a N50 billion salary bailout from the Nigerian government.

Reacting to Adeleke’s comment, Oyetola through his Finance Commissioner said the loans were inherited from the administration of Aregbesola.

However, the Minister of Interior in a statement signed by his media aide, Sola Fasure, on Saturday, said the two major loans he took while in office had been liquidated, adding, “They were the Sukkuk loans and the other was long-term concessionary facility by the Federal Government which have a long span repayment term.

“The deductions are minimal and they are not deductions that will infringe on the finances of the state.”

Aregbesola stressed that matter was between the Adeleke and Oyetola administrations because his debts had been liquidated.

He said, “I will suggest that they look at all the loans and get to the Accountant-General of the state at Abere. I think the Accountant General or the Permanent Secretary (Finance) would have better information because it is the Accountant-General that raised a memo based on the query of Governor Adeleke.

“He is the most knowledgeable about the loans by the state as the custodian of the account of the state. They should count Aregbesola out of it.

“I was not the one that took the N18 billion loan that was taken after the election. Oyetola took some other loans, including salary support from the Federal Government.”

The minister maintained that they caused the problem for themselves, adding, “If Oyetola had set up a transition committee and had cooperated well with the incoming governor after he lost the election, there would have been a smooth change of government.

“They would have compared notes and there would be no rancour. But he (Oyetola) was busy sowing mines on the path of the incoming governor, creating problems for him, and spending money with reckless abandon. What did he do with N18 billion? Now the new government is fighting back. If the new government takes the matter up to the EFCC, there would be problems for the Oyetola administration.”