The Anti Corruption Group on Wednesday challenged Oyo State government on

the hiring of consultant to  collect civil servants Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax  and other internally generated revenue on behalf of the state government.

The group led by former National President of Nigeria Union of Journalists(NUJ),Comrade Lanre Ogundipe, while addressing newsmen in Ibadan, alleged that it was another method of further fleecing  poor people of the state.The group further alleged the consultant  collect 15 per cent monthly on every tax and levies collected on behalf of the state government.

It maintained that Anti corruption agencies in the country still need to beam their searchlight on the state government spending particularly as it relates to the consultant and some banks ,for probity sake.But in swift reaction, Oyo State government said that former governor of the state,Senator Rashidi Ladoja and his surrogates masquerading as anti-corruption crusaders have no moral right to accuse anyone of corruption until the former governor has

effectively dispensed with the N6 billion fraud allegation brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which is currently in the Appeal Court.

 The governor’s Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Wale Sadeeq, It made this known in a reaction to an allegation by Mr. Lanre Ogundipe, one of the aides of the former governor, who is also an Accord Party chieftain, that there were shady deals in some road construction projects of the state government.

The reaction, signed by the governor’s Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Wale Sadeeq, asked the former governor, whom it said was on bail for corruption, to face his corruption charges squarely rather than engage in what it called a Pull Him Down campaign.

According to the government, the Accord Party and the so-called anti-corruption organization willfully muddled up the facts of the dualization of

Dugbe/Magazine/Eleyele road project to achieve the ulterior motive of setting the people against the government. The government said that the N7 billion quoted by the party as cost of the 7.4 km road construction included cost of compensation for demolition, relocation and installation of new water pipes, consultancy, relocation of PHCN/NITEL cables,street lighting and many other facilities that go with the road construction.

“It is the usual serpentine practice of Senator Ladoja. He knows that his name was already soiled due to the N6 billion fraudulent sales of Oyo State government shares which the EFCC is alleging he pocketed and thus uses a surrogate to pose as an anti-corruption agent. Our government is too urbane to be involved in this imaginary act,” the government said.

On the allegation of engagement of consultants to collect the state government taxation, the government said this falls in line with Ladoja’s modes of operation of seeking to confuse the public with misinformation.

The anti-corruption group reviewed state of affairs in the state in recent times, and insisted that the sitting government had  performed far below  peoples expectation. It particularly cited the examples of various ongoing state projects, declaring that what the state government tagged Urban Renewal Projects are nothing but mere expansion of existing projects.

It equally took up the state on the state Transporters Enumeration Registration Scheme(OYSTER) that deals with registration of vehicles ,tricycles and motorcycles being used for commercial purposes in the state , insisting government owes members of the public an explanation on the real owner of the Account name (SYNERCOM Ltd) that people are being asked to pay the various registration charges which range from N1,500 to N6,500, to.

The various road projects being constructed by the state also came under attack of the Anti corruption group which maintained that cost of  road per kilometre in the state which it put at N1.3 billion is questionable. 

The group also scolded the state for its inability to yet pay compensation to those whose houses and shops were affected by the government Urban Renewal project particularly as it concerns roads construction in major cities in the state.