The Ondo State Government raised an alarm on Sunday over a clandestine move by some desperate politicians to blackmail it with a non-existent audit report, using a news magazine recently acquired by a politician from the state who has shown interest in contesting the forthcoming governorship race to the Alagbaka Government House.
A statement by the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Kayode Akinmade, in Akure explained that findings from the state ministries of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning had revealed that at no time did any of the state accounts were queried either by internal or external auditors in the last three years.
The government urged members of the public to disregard the so-called report because it was not only fake but wicked and a calculated plot to cause crisis and achieve a pre-determined plot.
The statement reads in part: “The attention of the Ondo State Government has been drawn to a grand move by some self seeking politicians to cause crisis in the state using a non-existing audit report.
“The so-called false, wicked and malicious report has been slated for publication in this week’s edition of a news magazine recently acquired by a politician who has shown interest in contesting the forthcoming governorship election in the state.
“It will be recalled that the same politician, had about four months ago, used his magazine to publish a malicious story against the state government and also vowed to repeat same quarterly. .
“The same publisher had sometimes last year, confronted Governor Olusegun Mimiko at the Akure airport and threatened to run the state aground.
“We hereby appeal to the people of the state and Nigerians in general to be wary of the wicked plot by the enemies of progress to cause disharmony at this period when everybody was preparing to celebrate the third anniversary of an administration which had a record of executing unprecedented projects and programmes which had greatly transformed the state.
“The people of Ondo State have a governor they can trust and they will not allow anybody with inordinate ambition to spoil their joy at this period” The statement added.