The party chairman, Kayode Olawepo, said in a statement issued in Ilorin that the CBN hammer was inevitable in view of what his party called the "the financial recklessness and corruption of the immediate past and present PDP governments in the state."

He added that "it is interesting that this blacklisting comes amid empty boasts by KWSG officials that the state is viable and is in no financial mess. It is an embarrassing situation, even though it is a case of the chicken coming home to roost. We saw it coming, and had indeed warned against it."

Olawepo said ACN's findings show that the state is indebted to the tune of N6.8b and was shortlisted for the penalty following its "failure to pay back its backlogs of loan which led to the purchase of the debts at an agreed price by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON)."

The party called on the anti-graft agencies to probe the alleged mismanagement that led to the state being declared unviable by the country's monetary body, and bring to book anybody found wanting.

The statement added: "The CBN circular said the state and others in the same condition have no viable means of paying their loans and so cannot be allowed to borrow again. In other words, the 45-year-old Kwara State is not a viable entity!

This revelation confirms our repeated alarm that Kwara State is being wrecked under the PDP Government, no thanks to financial recklessness, misplaced priorities and wanton corruption.

"The fact that the CBN doubts the State's ability to pay back the loan confirms our position that much of the so-called projects embarked upon are unviable and are mere conduit pipes with no benefit for the people of the State.

"To underscore the recklessness of the PDP Government in Kwara State, while the State fails to pay salaries and cannot pay pensions, it recently set up a committee to celebrate Nigeria's 52nd anniversary in a grand style. Also, While majority of the people live in poverty, this same PDP-led state government is building a mansion for former Governor Bukola Saraki and using state funds to bail out 'thriving' Shonga Farm, which it once declared as a "private concern."

"On the contary, other states that receive comparable federal allocation as Kwara do not have problems paying salaries and have not been declared unviable by the CBN simply because they have not mismanaged their funds in the way the PDP-led government has mismanaged the funds of the Kwara people.

"Once again, we call on the PDP government to stop living on a begging bowl - which is responsible for this mess - and instead show genuine leadership to bring out the best in the people who remain the most potent source of success.

"At the same time we call on the law enforcement agencies to investigate these allegations of financial mismanagement and to bring to book whoever is responsible for bringing the state to its knees in this manner. Transparency and good governance demands this and the people of Kwara State have a right to know what has happened to their funds."

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