The Oyo State Government has said that the Accountant-General of the State, Mrs Kikelomo Adegoke, did not contradict the position of Governor Seyi Makinde on the payment of judgment debt to former ex-Local Government Chairmen and Councilors.
Reports in a section of the media had misrepresented the contents of a letter sent to some banks by the Accountant-General, claiming that she contradicted the Governor’s stance that the State had no money to defray the judgment debt.
The State Government has however clarified that the letter, which was sent to the banks in respect of the garnishee order placed on the State’s account in 10 commercial banks in December 2023, was consistent with Governor Makinde’s position.
The State Government explained that the Accountant-General in the letter informed the affected banks that the Oyo State Joint Local Government Allocation Account domiciled with First Bank of Nigeria, had already been put on lien to the tune of N3,425,300,000, being the total amount of the judgment debt.
The letter said, having adequately provisioned for the debt, it is thus both unconscionable and inequitable for nine other banks to do the same in the circumstances.
A statement signed by the Special Adviser on Media to Governor Seyi Makinde further clarified that the Governor has neither said the State will not pay the debt nor that the state had no money to pay, but that the process of the law would be followed to a logical conclusion to avoid paying Oyo State money to wrong people.
