The gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, during the 2019 general elections in Oyo State, Chief Bayo Adelabu has revealed that the state has retrogressed under Governor Seyi Makinde in the last one year.
Adelabu, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, disclosed this on an Ibadan-based radio station, Fresh FM. while speaking on the affairs of the state for the first time since he lost his gubernatorial bid in 2019.
Even though Adelabu noted that it was unfair to compare the first year administration of Makinde to the 8 years the immediate past Governor, Abiola Ajimobi spent in office, he emphasized that the current administration has done nothing tangible.
When asked whether Makinde has been able to build on the legacies left by Ajimobi, he said, “In terms of security, it is the impact that you are going to measure and of late we have been seeing pockets of crimes – car snatching, robbery, in the last one year; that did not happen in the eight years of Ajimobi.
“We have seen the return of area boys. Ekugbemi vs Ebila. These are people that were dead during the eight years of Ajimobi. In all the local areas now, go there you will see fights. In fact, almost every night, armed robbers go to those areas. Go to Kudeti, Popo, you will see that. Rape cases in Oyo State too, in fact, we are getting notorious among the comity of states. The rape case in Oyo State is higher than any other state in Nigeria. There is no night economy in Oyo State anymore because people now live in fear, even before the COVID-19 started. It was not what it was when Ajimobi was there anymore.”
He also stated that the recent re-commissioning of the CCTV security project that Ajimobi had earlier commissioned is because Makinde does not have anything tangible to commission, adding that “now, everyone is protecting their family houses so that the re-commissioning committee will not come and start re-commissioning it or even Cocoa house.”
He stressed that if care is not taken, after re-commissioning Ajimobi’s projects, Makinde might have no choice but to start re-commissioning projects carried out during the tenure of former governor Alao Akala, Rashidi Ladoja and Bola Ige.
He, however, noted that he was not disappointed by the below par performance of Makinde’s administration because he never expected much from him.
“What we are seeing now is just the result of a sudden and unexpected victory of their party,” Adelabu added.
