Ekiti State Government said on Sunday that allegations that Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s ongoing working visit to the United States has gulped $500,000 of the state resources were untrue.
Special Adviser (Media) to the Governor, Yinka Oyebode, who said it was also untrue that the governor had 20 persons on the trip to the US, added that figures, which he said were fictitious, existed in the imagination of the publishers and sponsors of the allegation.
An online medium had on Sunday said that the governor was on a jamboree in the United States, claiming that he has failed to return in two weeks despite travelling for a four-day event.
The medium had alleged that the trip which had 20 persons in the governor’s entourage and had gulped $500,000 tax payers’ money.
But Oyebode, who in a statement in Ado Ekiti on Sunday said that the state government would not succumb to blackmail, stated, “We urge well-meaning citizens of the state and Nigerians in general to disregard the dubious publication which is bereft of substance.”
He added, “As a responsible government, we also consider it appropriate to re-state here that Governor Oyebanji followed due protocols in embarking on the trip, which was well publicised.
“He has not exceeded the time allocated for the trip. He has not derailed from the purpose of the trip and he will be back in the country this week after the outlined tasks.
“It is important to place on record that Biodun Oyebanji remains focused on the all-round development of Ekiti State through effective implementation of his six-pillar development agenda”.
Oyebode stated that the governor remained committed to his administration’s shared prosperity agenda, adding that “a thousand and one lies and sponsored stories” could not distract him.
