Kwara State Government has denied allegations that it was financially broke, following delay in the payment of local government workers, adding that stakeholders in the sector were all aware of what led to the delay.

The government also vowed to ensure that all those caught by security agents in connection with ugly incident which resulted in the killing of two persons by some suspected members of secret cult society at the Kwara State Polytechnic area, faced the wrath of the law.

About 57 persons have been arrested over the clash between rival cult groups in the school, which last week resulted in the death of two persons, one of whom was decapitated. It was the first major of such incidence in the state since about six years when the state promulgated a law against cultism that provides no option of fine for those found guilty under its provisions.

This was made known by the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Prince Tunji Morounfoye, while speaking with journalists, he said, "Insinuations that the state was broke is wrong."

He added that, "Before then, there had been wild speculations that the development was because the state was having difficulties with its finances, with many attributing the situation to the debt servicing portfolio of the government."

"All such suggestions were wrong, as the state has won a record of stable financial health, even from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, recently, and explained that the delay in the payment of salaries was attributable to the non-timely release of federal allocation to states of the federation as well as a huge fall in the eventual allocation.

Speaking on allegations that the state was servicing a huge debt, Morounfoye disclosed that, "On the contrary, if the financial institutions involved were not sure of the financial abilities of the state to meet its obligations, they would not have acceded to the request for loan since each application is treated with due investigation.

"If there is something wrong with our accounts, I believe the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, member in the Joint Allocation Committee, JAC, who is the chairman of Offa local government, would have cried out since we are not in the same party, but he understands like every other stakeholder while the delay occurred.

"Besides, the CBN only recently mentioned that Kwara is one of the healthy states, so there is no cause for such insinuations at all."