Monday 30 August 2010
- Culled from The PunchThere are indications that Ogun State Governor Gbenga
Daniel and the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Tunji Egbetokun, may
not be part of the televised debate on the state N100bn contentious bond issue
on which the Assembly has insisted on holding a public debate before approval.The House had last Tuesday resolved that before the
lawmakers would give their nod to the executive to raise the bond, which was
initially meant to be N50bn for the states ongoing capital projects, a
televised debate would be held between the legislature and the executive.This, Egbetokun had said, would allow the two sides iron
out some alleged contradictions contained in the report submitted to the House
by the executive to back up the request for the financial document. Our correspondent, however, gathered from reliable
government sources on Sunday that Daniel would not attend the debate, though he
had given his approval for the public discourse to hold.The state Commissioner for Information and Orientation,
Mr. Sina Kawonise, who had earlier registered the opposition of the executive
to the debate last Tuesday, however, stated the readiness of the government to
attend the debate and had asked the Assembly to liaise with the ministry for
further discussions.Kawonise had said, “The decision of the government to
engage the House on the bond issue in a public forum in spite of the fact that
it had created many avenues, which were spurned in the past, is to demonstrate
its good faith and responsiveness at all times and to show its readiness to
continue to work in the interest of the people of Ogun State.â€A reliable source told our correspondent that the Commissioner
for Finance, Mr. Kehinde Sogunle; the Director-General, Bureau of Management
and Budget, Mr. Kehinde Sunmola; Kawonise and a member of the State Economic
Advisory Council would be on the government delegation to the debate.The source said, “No, of course, the governor will not
attend the debate. The governor had done well by chatting the path for the
actualisation of the projects which were listed in the information that the
Assembly asked for. The bond is not about OGD (Otunba Gbenga Daniel); so, his
presence at the debate is not necessary.â€The Deputy Speaker of the House, Pastor Remmy Hazzan, who
said the lawmakers were ready for the debate in one week instead of the two
proposed by the executive, however, declared that if Daniel would not attend
the debate, Egbetokun would also not attend.He said, “We reserve the right to choose
our team. If the governor is not coming, the Speaker will also not attend. If
the state is coming with a delegation, we are also selecting our delegation
that will attend the debate.â€