Plateau State governor, Simon Lalong, has admitted that it is true he took a N10 billion loan for infrastructural development, but said it was mischievous of opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members to make it look like it is a fresh loan.
According to him, Plateau people should disregard the information, adding that some of the projects for which the loan was taken were already benefiting the masses.
For the PDP, he had one advice: the members should dissipate energy on how to tell the people on the plateau what they have planned in the elections coming up early 2019, rather than peddling old news in a mischievous manner.
Lalong’s spokeman, Mark Longyen, said, “The opposition should therefore focus attention on helping a sick PDP recuperate to become a virile opposition party instead of dissipating energy on political blackmail like this. The government welcomes constructive criticism laden with intelligent suggestions, solutions and advice from all quarters which can add value to governance as opposed to this Pull-Him-Down approach.
“The reports being shared on social media, smacks of political chicanery cum mischief for an opposition politician – all in the name of politics, to go to the extent of lifting a story which was published exactly a year ago and sharing same on social media platforms with the intention, as it were, to create a false impression that it is a new story or fresh bank facility.
“It is clearly a clandestine subterfuge aimed at both deceiving gullible members of the public who do not read between the lines, as well as maligning the governor and government in power in order to score cheap political points.
“Yes, it is true that the said loan was taken as ‘infrastructure loan’ by government with the unanimous approval of the State House of Assembly under a supplementary budget in late 2015 as statutorily required. This was necessitated by the need and resolve of the Governor to go ahead with and complete all the multi billion Naira projects that were inherited from the preceding PDP government.”
“It is on record that, despite the paucity of funds, the state government embarked on many developmental projects, all of which are visible to the most incurable opposition critics, as well as to the blind and audible to the deaf and dumb”, he said.