Mr Governor’s Ibadan Circular Road Project, A Monumental Fraud—Oyo APC Knocks Makinde 

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has cried out over the alleged monumental fraud that the party claimed it discovered in the partial execution of the Ibadan Circular Road Project, warning the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde that the unabated corruption being perpetrated by the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) could plunge the state into irredeemable doom in the near future.

At the commissioning ceremony that took place at Badeku Junction on Ife-Ibadan Express Road last Friday, Gov. Makinde announced that the Ibadan Circular Road Project, which, according to him, was the largest investment in Oyo State in 50 years, had cost a whopping sum of N300 billion. Anambra state governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, was the Special Guest of Honour at the event.

In a reaction that was contained in a statement issued today and made available to journalists in Ibadan by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, Oyo APC queried Gov. Makinde on the rationale behind the government’s redesign of the road project to occupy 425 metres as setbacks on both sides when the standard measure for any Trunk ‘A’ road does not exceed 60 metres across the globe. So, the ongoing indiscriminate demolition of properties by poor citizens is to serve the interests of the governor and his cronies.

“There are many questions begging for answers as far as this matter is concerned: how did Gov. Makinde spend N300 billion on less than a quarter of the whole project when his predecessor, late Senator Abiola Ajimobi, had awarded the contract for its design, construction, and completion as well as payment of compensation to those who might have lost their properties to construction activities at a total cost of N70 billion in June 2017 while the contractor had done about 20 percent of the work before he was sent away when the PDP government came on board in 2019?

“In July 2021, Gov. Makinde announced that he had re-awarded the same project to another contractor at a total sum of N138.2 billion, but last Friday, when a stretch representing about a quarter of the whole project was being commissioned (for suspended use by the public), the governor claimed the completed portion had gulped N300 billion. The entire circular road project was designed to cover 110 kilometres, and the whole world wants to know the fraction that has now cost N300 billion to be done and also how much the remaining three quarters would cost.

“Meanwhile, tongues would continue to wag on the issue of the large expanse of land forcefully acquired from the owners in the name of road construction. The fact remains that the people of the state cannot trust a government that is popular for land fraud, as was the case in Ajia, Wofun, Bashorun, Bodija, and Lagos Express Road, among others, in the last four years. Those hapless land owners are accusing Gov. Makinde of a surreptitious plan to seize their land and later sell it to some strangers from the East.

“Another issue of concern is that of the supposed Agodi-Gate Junction Improvement Project, which has been identified as another conduit to syphon the resources of the state. All the state is doing is to evacuate roadside traders, clear some blocked drainages, lay light asphalt, and install traffic lights, then later claim several billions of naira as the cost of the exaggerated repair works on the popular junctions at Ibadan Civic Centre and Agodi-Gate. 

“The sad thing is that the proceeds of these inflated contacts end up in private pockets without any trace. This kind of funding is what some governors in other states are using to revive agriculture, fix the education sector, and address hardship among the masses, among other things in their domains. Public primary and secondary schools are in dire need of subject teachers; virtually all the inner and access roads are in bad shape; there is no public tap water anywhere in the state; the population of the poor increases every day; and yet, Gov. Makinde misappropriates scarce resources to the detriment of the welfare of the people. This has to stop.” APC said.