* Govt confirms plan to sell Aviation College

Kwara ACN on Monday described as 'worrisome but typical of the PDP-led state government ' the revelations on twitter about the non-completion of and the lies being told about the Ilorin Cargo Terminal which was long commissioned as a complete project.

The party also urged Kwarans to "open their eyes as Kwara State Government just confirms our worries and suspicions that projects gulping billions of naira of public funds may soon be turned to private properties when the governor's spokesman Femi Akorede confirmed on the social media, Twitter, that the government 'will eventually sell 70 per cent of its stake' in the Aviation College to some private investors."

In a statement in Ilorin, the state capital, ACN Chairman Kayode Olawepo recalled that confusion and anger reigned on the social media network, Twitter, at the weekend after Kwara Information Commissioner, Tunji Moronfoye, openly ontradicted

claims by a pro-Bukola Saraki blogger Rotimi Ogungbola that the Ilorin Cargo Terminal is already operational and bringing revenue to the state government. He said Ogungbola had claimed in an opinion article posted on a popular website Ilorin.info, entitled "Economic Boost Through cargo Terminal", that the cargo terminal was up and running, and that the Federal Government is already eyeing the facility which Ogungbola claimed "has offered Kwarans the benefits of secured handling, speed, and geographic advantage with low cost of road or ocean container freight which are relatively expensive."

The statement read: "The article, coming a few days after Moronfoye (@TunjiMoronfoye) told some Kwarans on Twitter that the terminal is still under construction and was never commissioned, saw @kwhistleblower leading other wara
indigenes to question the claims in Ogungbola's article which they dismissed as "one of the many lies of Bukola Saraki and his publicists."

"Pressured to clear the air on Ogungbola's article in view of his claims a few days earlier, Moronfoye declared in a tweet on Friday: "oga whistle, can you give this a rest? Is the facility there? Yes. Is it commissioned? No. Is it operational? No. Go there, work is still on."

"Although Moronfoye insisted the project was never commissioned, Ilorin.info posted a tweet showing President Goodluck Jonathan and Saraki, then a governor, at the official commissioning of the project.

"Moronfoye's tweets triggered flurry of reactions from Kwara indigenes on the social media, with one of them, @omo_baba_kaduna, declaring that "the cargo terminal was one of the many uncompleted projects Bukola Saraki commissioned before leaving office." One such project was the recently commissioned Ilorin Central Mosque, which the former governor commissioned in the run-up to the April governorship election in 2011.

"It is unclear why Ogungbola painted the picture of a cargo terminal already running and profitable even when the facility has not been completed, as the information commissioner confirmed, but the Kwara State Government is believed to be pestering the Federal Government to take it over.

"Asked if there was any sense in government committing public fund into project it knows was not sustainable or economically viable, Dr Femi Akorede (@phemmmy), who is special assistant to Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed on Media and Communications, confirmed the project was conceived with the original intention of selling it to the central government to recoup the money spent on it.

"Akorede's tweet read: 'Govt recognised the potential economic benefit of the terminal and built it with the expectation FG will take over and refund.' In another tweet on Friday, he said: 'That we are securing FG's interest in cargo terminal is consistent with the original intention in establishing it.'

"He was reacting to an earlier tweet from @kwhistleblower that "come to think of it, which business concern will let go or canvass the takeover of its profitable venture? That KWSG wants it taken over says it all.'

"Femi also provoked further controversy on twitter on Saturday afternoon after he confirmed that the government "will eventually sell 70 per cent of its stake (to a private investor) and use the proceeds for development.'

"Akorede sent the tweet following discussions on plan by the state government to buy additional 10 aircraft for the Aviation College, minus those Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed claimed the FG pledged to buy for the school.

"Reacting to fears that the government may some day claim the school no longer belongs to the state as is the case with Shonga Farm which KWSG claims is now owned by private concerns, Akorede said: 'Let me allay your fears. Government will eventually sell 70 per cent of its stake and use the proceeds for development.'

"Akorede did not say the exact percentage owned by the Kwara State Government, but controversy now trails the mounting claims that the college is privately owned. The Aviation College was built from the N30b bond the Saraki-led administration raised from the capital market. The government only accessed N17b from the bond, quitting the arrangement mid way."