The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the state Governor Ademola Adeleke of fraudulently taking undeserved credit for the road projects done by the combined administrations of Mr Rauf Aregbesola and Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola in order to deceive the people of the state and beyond.
It would be recalled that Governor Adeleke rolled out the drum yesterday by bringing in the Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde to commission the Stadium-Testing Ground-Oke-Baale-Ilesa-Garage Road along the Osogbo Ring Road without alluding to the fact that his administration had only 20 per cent intervention on the said road project while his predecessors had effected the 80 per cent of the commissioned phase of the road contract.
Based on his unenviable antecedents, we are not surprised that Governor Adeleke could go to the despicable length of fraudulently claiming the executor of the projects of his predecessors which could be likened to a brazen ignominious act of stealing dirty during the daylight.
Our surprise as a party at the untoward development on the dubious road commissioning saga, was the complicity of Governor Makinde who is a qualified Electrical Engineer, blessed with the administration of a populous state like Oyo for six years running not to have discovered that his Osun State counterpart invited him to commission an uncompleted project.
The original design of the road was to be in two layers but surprisingly, only binder course was done on the commissioned road while there is nothing to show that the wearing course of it has been done as contained in the road design which automatically qualified it for an uncompleted project .
It is important for Governor Makinde to investigate the nature and history of any project he is invited to commission especially by Governor Adeleke in future so that his plight would not be like that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo who was brought to Osun State last week for the commissioning of about two kilometres of Lameco-Old Garage Road which several portions of it are already in the state of disrepair.
We challenge the Osun State Governor Adeleke to prove to the whole world that his administration did 250 kilometres of light-up within the two years of his government contrary to what he told Makinde as the information available to us showed that what the government under Adeleke had done is within the range of only 20 kilometres of light-up.
We sympathize with Governor Makinde over his pledge to assist his counterpart return to the Bola Ige House in 2026 as Governor Adeleke knows where the shoe pinches and he is supposedly endowed to differentiate from an impossible Utopia and reality of the mere political statement credited to the Oyo State governor which is as good as Dead On Delivery.
We may excuse Governor Adeleke on his allegation that his immediate-past predecessor abandoned the said project in the sense that it might not be possible for him to know that the former Governor Oyetola did 5.3km single carriageway with median, two numbers of roundabout and slips road of the said road from Stadium Roundabout to Ilesa-Garage Roundabout as the period coincided with the time that it was expedient for Senator Adeleke to run away to America.
Inspite of paucity of funds during his administration, will it be proper and correct to believe by the discerning members of the society that the Oyetola administration that fully funded the single carriageway with median, two numbers of roundabout and slips road from Ilesa-Garage to Stadium Roundabout to complete the loop of the entire Osogbo East Bypass project to binder level as having abandoned the project?
Governor Adeleke undoubtedly needs tutorial to be in the know of the fact that a cumulative amount of over N15 billion was paid by both the Aregbesola and Oyetola administrations for the project, leaving a balance of about N3billion for total completion of the road which included complete overlaying to wearing course
It is so sad that the road that was stopped at a binder level without overlaying was lane marked by the laid-back and inept administration of Governor Adeleke.
The attempt of Governor Adeleke to obliterate the eventful four-year administration of former Governor Oyetola now Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, will be an effort in futility as the history of the state cannot be whole without giving the workaholic and financial engineer his proper place. Recall that Oyetola administration paid N97billion of Osun debt without borrowing.
The earlier Governor Adeleke desists from incubating another fellow’s egg, the better it would be for his wobbled and rudderless administration which is largely being run by impulse rather than diligent planning.