The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has continued its criticism of the plan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led state government to award an N8 billion contract for the proposed reconstruction of the Iwo Road Interchange in Ibadan, the state capital.
in a statement by the Party made available to newsmen in Ibadan on Friday, it challenged Governor Seyi Makinde to show to the world his idea of the project before making any financial commitment.
In the statement, the APC said the governor did not need to “waste resources on mobilisation of foot soldiers” to defend the plan which, according to the party, was “dead on arrival since the governor could not sound convincing on what exactly he wanted to do and how he came about a contract sum without any record of due diligence.”
The statement, signed by the party’s Assistant Publicity Secretary, Prince Ayobami Adejumo, reads in part: “The modern Oyo State as evolved by the immediate past APC administration is a work-in-progress and there is no point for us as a progressive party to oppose any development stride of the PDP government, provided that it is genuine, realistic and reasonable. But in the case of this N8 billion interchange reconstruction as well as the projects tied to the N17.6 billion loans secured so far, we demand a probe for the sake of the masses.
“It does not bother us whether Governor Makinde runs to Rivers State to get a fake project prototype or he mobilises foot soldiers to attack us for asking salient questions over the way he spends government money at his disposal, we would not watch or fold our arms as he continues to govern the people of the Pacesetter State with only the words of mouth and little or no action.
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“We would continue to ask Governor Makinde about the availability of any engineering or structural designs of the planned project, advertisements of tender as required by law, any communication with the Federal Government or the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing which had included the same interchange reconstruction in two different ongoing road projects as well as any evidence of project conceptualisation and valuation before arriving at the contract sum.
“The Makinde administration has earned itself a popularity for putting the cart before the horse in all cases. It announced the full implementation of free education policy before determining what goes with it.
“The same government made public how he would build its local economy around maize export before determining what volume of perennial harvest it could get, while few days ago, it stated its readiness to increase the state’s internally generated revenue base to N20 billion in a few months even without any concrete plan to achieve it.
“Apart from the fact Oyo State is too big for experimental governance, we urge the governor to do away with the urge to grow his political influence beyond his base at all cost by playing a Father Christmas with the state resources. The premature ambition to be the leader of the PDP in the South West as well as the resolve to bankroll the electioneering of the candidate of his party in Kogi State in the next month gubernatorial poll should not be at the expense of the masses of Oyo State.”
