The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has accused Governor Oluseyi Makinde of being hypocritical in his administration’s handling of legacy projects of the immediate past government of Sen. Abiola Ajimobi.
Makinde had on Thursday issued a stop-work order to the contractors handling the road project awarded by the last administration last year.
But Oyo APC said in a statement Friday by its Assistant Publicity Secretary, Prince Ayobami Adejumo, that Makinde’s administration was playing politics with such important legacy projects at the expense of the state.
The statement read: “It is unfortunate that the present PDP government is out to play unnecessary politics with everything not minding effects its action would have on the state.
“One would naturally wonder what could have motivated the governor to direct virtually all his actions towards obliterating the enviable record of good governance left behind by the Ajimobi administration particularly in the areas of physical infrastructure. Since his assumption of office in May this year, Gov. Makinde has made it a daily habit to cry wolf where none existed.
“Why would a serious government wake up on a day and decide to blackmail its predecessor over a project like that of Ibadan Circular Road which was well conceived and transparently handed over to a consortium for a desirable delivery? Gov. Makinde played his usual hypocritical card when he acknowledged the importance of the project and at the same time reeled out lies simply to blackmail his predecessor who had to use his God-given wisdom to get sponsors for its implementation since government did not have the required funds to get it done.
“To set the record straight, Ibadan Circular Road project was awarded by the Ajimobi administration in 2018 without a dime coming from the government as it is being done under a Public-Private Partnership arrangement. The total stretch of new road to be constructed is 110km and not the 36km figure mischievously quoted by Gov. Makinde. However, if the governor was not satisfied with the pace of work on the project, he could invite the consortium involved to his office and sort things out with them.
“Interestingly, Gov. Makinde can commission different model schools built by Sen. Ajimobi to mark his own first 100 days in office. The same governor can distribute the books produced by the APC administration to public school pupils to kick off his controversial free education programme while he can also take delivery of medical equipment fully procured by Ajimobi and move them to Adeoyo State Hospital as his own initiative but he would still not be at peace whenever he comes across other lofty projects of Sen. Abiola Ajimobi. This calls for a concern and we urge him (Makinde) to have a rethink.”
The opposition party also berated the Makinde administration over the alleged misinformation and falsehood being dished out to the public on the total refunds of N24.6 million made to Oyo State pilgrims to this year Hajj in Saudi Arabia by the National Hajj Commission (NAHCOM), Abuja. The refund, according to NAHCOM, was as a result of overpayment made to it by the individual pilgrims during the registration for the 2019 exercise.
“It is quite disturbing that a governor could tell blatant lie that he made refunds to hajj pilgrims when he did not do so. The refunds, in question, was made by a national body in charge of hajj (NAHCOM) and same was done for all the over 95,000 pilgrims from across the 36 states and the FCT at the completion of the 2019 exercise. One would have expected the governor to take responsibility for the female pilgrim from Oyo State who absconded in Saudi Arabia but he chose to lie about refunds made rather and this is uncharitable,” Adejumo concluded.