Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Interior, has said he never collected salary all through his eight years in office as governor of Osun State.
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Aregbesola was reacting to a report said to have been published online, that he received 96-month salary arrears in secret towards the end of his tenure as governor.
A statement from his media aide, Sola Fasure, described the report as a fiction written by elements bent on casting “aspersion on the integrity of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola”.
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Fasure explained that Aregbesola did not receive salary as governor because the state provided almost everything he needed, and his children had already graduated from higher institutions.
“The report is entirely a piece of fiction, a good exemplar of fake news and disreputable journalism. 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.
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“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.
“The author of the report claims to have got the information from some anonymous government officials. He provides no evidence.
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“The report fails 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.”
