PDP Slams Aregbesola Over Owed WAEC Fees

The Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has called on Governor Rauf Aregbesola to pay the money owed the West African Examination Council so that candidates who took the exams can obtain their certificates.

In a statement on Sunday, the party said although it recognised the fact that the administration of Mr. Aregbesola was indebted to many agencies and individuals, it should pay the money due to WAEC.

“The money should be paid having allowed students in the state to sit for their papers on credit with the assurance that the state government would pay up,” the PDP said in a statement signed by its Spokesperson, Diran Odeyemi, said.

“Not paying the debt owed WAEC on time, will jeopardize chances of many students that are awaiting result of getting admission to further education Universities and Polytechnics.

“For the records, we want to inform the world that before students that sat for WAEC in public schools could sit for their practicals, they had to pay for specimens because of the refusal of the examination body to send money to schools to buy them.”

The party noted that WAEC withheld the money meant to buy practical specimens because the government owed it huge sums of money.

“If Aregbesola can no longer run the free education programme he inherited from the PDP government for about eight years with almost 80 percent passing rates in external examinations, he should not shy away from declaring a state of emergency in Education in the state,” the statement read.

“Taking exams on credit is another open disgrace Osun is witnessing under the watch of Mr. Aregbesola.”

The PDP said with teachers being owned salaries, resulting in the closure of schools in the past nine weeks, the party could only plead with the Governor to give education its deserved attention in the state in the interest of the future of the children.

Premiumtimes

Thugs Attack Newspaper Readers At Newsstand For Criticising Aregbesola

Some hoodlums invaded a newsstand on Thursday in Osogbo and beat up readers found there for criticizing Governor Rauf Aregbesola administration.

It was reported that the readers were at a newsstand opposite the old Governor’s Office and were discussing the issue when the hoodlums stormed the place and attacked them.

Another side of the report revealed that the newsstand had been an hot spot for both supporters of APC and PDP where they always engaged themselves in hot argument in favour and against government.


The owner of the newspapeer stand, who identified himself as 'Sherif' said:

“A spy sent by the hoodlums came here and said he wanted to buy a newspaper. We asked him which of the newspapers, but he said anyone. Suddenly, some thugs invaded this place. Some readers and I saw them on time and fled.

But they manhandled others, who could not escape. The thugs beat them up mercilessly. They tore all my newspapers and destroyed the stand.”

One of the victims of the victims, Olufemi Fadeyi, said the hoodlums came while the readers were engrossed in the argument for and against the governor over the nonpayment of workers’ salaries.

He stated that majority of the readers were criticizing the governor for not paying workers’ salaries and one of them stepped aside and made a telephone call.

Fadeyi said some minutes after, the hoodlums stormed the newsstand and started attacking those found there. He said:

“The hoodlums were armed. They rounded us up, but some escaped. They beat those caught and destroyed the stand.”

The Chairman of Newspapers Distributor Association in Osun State, Alhaji Muhammed Azeez Olaiya who visited the scene of the incident said the association was not happy over the development and lamented that people could no longer expressed themselves freely in the state.