The Minister of Interior and immediate past governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has denied reports that he secretly received his accumulated 96-month salary while leaving office as governor in 2019.
The minister was reacting to reports accusing him of receiving the accumulated salaries in secret.
A statement from minister’s media aide, Sola Fasure, described the report as a fiction written by elements bent on casting “aspersion on the integrity of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola “.
According to the statement, the author of the report “falsely claims that the Minister of Interior and immediate past governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, towards the end of his tenure, secretly received the backlog of his full salary for the entire period he was governor, contrary to his asserting that he never did.
“The report is entirely a piece of fiction, a good exemplar of fake news and disreputable journalism.”
The media aide said: “Let me state categorically again that Ogbeni Aregbesola did not receive any salary in the entire duration of his eight-year stint as governor in Osun.
“His reason being that the state government provided accommodation, security, transportation, food and other conveniences for him and would not need to pay for these from his pocket.
“He also explained that all his children are grown up and have graduated and he would not need to pay school fees again. He therefore donated his salaries to the state government.
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“The author of the report claims to have got the information from some anonymous government officials. He provides no evidence.
“The report fails the basic journalistic ethical requirement that only truth and verifiable fact should be reported as news. Reading through it, one is not in doubt that the evil intention behind the piece was to smear and cast aspersion on the integrity of Ogbeni Aregbesola.”