Makinde, APC tango over stoppage of road project

The last has not been heard on the stop-work order to the contractor handing the 32-kilometre Ibadan Circular Road as the All Progressives Congress (APC) had criticised Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde for issuing the order.

Governor Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had on Thursday ordered the construction firm to stop work, on the ground that it was not meeting his expectation on the job.

Reacting to the order, APC, the major opposition party in Oyo, alleged that Makinde was being hypocritical in his style of governance, especially with his administration’s handling of legacy projects of the immediate-past government of Abiola Ajimobi.

“It was unfortunate that the present PDP government was out to play unnecessary politics with everything, not minding the effect 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 area of physical infrastructure. Since his assumption of office in May this year, Governor Makinde has made it a daily habit to cry wolf where none existed.

“Why would a serious government wake up one 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?” the party’s Assistant Publicity Secretary, Ayobami Adejumo, stated yesterday.

However, Makinde explained that the stop-work order was to save the people of Oyo from being shortchanged.

Makinde gave the explanation at the commissioning of the Satellite Audio Network of the state-owned Oluyole FM at the premises of the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS), Bashorun, Ibadan.

On the importance of the facility, the governor, who described his administration as a listening one, noted that he had promised to take the state-owned broadcasting outfit to a height that the people would all be proud of.

Makinde accused past administrations of neglecting the outfit in the last 12 years.

“As I drove down for this commissioning, I could not help but think about the importance of communication to the development of any community. If we cannot hear one another well, people will attach different meanings to what was said and meant and happenings. Of course, communication guarantees feedback. The more feedbacks the leadership gets, the better the quality of decisions that they make.

“I have often taken every opportunity to remind the people of Oyo that we are an administration that listens; we are not in the business of curbing free speech or when you complain to us about something, we look at it then we act. We are tapping your brains to guide us.”