Accord Party cautions Oyo govt against personalising governance ACCORD Party has cautioned Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State to stop personalising governance in the state. In a statement signed by its media director, Prince Dotun Oyelade, the party said that over-centralisation of authority is against the rules and norms of democratic practice. It cited the usurpation of the secretariat overhead bridge which had been closed for public use and which is now opened only to the governor and his wife. The party observed that not even cabinet members had access to the bridge, while civil servants and the public are turned away from the utility. The release also cited the overbearing presence of the governor’s wife in matters that were strictly official and said that it was unacceptable for her to be allowed to corner duties and powers that were glaringly in the purview of top goverment officials. The statement also read that the response of the ACN to Senator Ladoja’s criticism of the Mokola bridge was as bad as the bridge itself. In a sharp reaction to a release issued by the ACN that it is worldwide practice that articulated vehicles and other heavy trucks are discouraged from highways and flyovers to minimise road casualties, Accord Party, said that it was unfortunate that a ruling party in the South West could issue a universal lie to explain a structural scandal that would be an albatross for the duration of this administration. “If barriers were erected for the sole reason of preventing accidents and gridlock,” the release asked, why has Ajimobi not erected one on the Molete flyover over two years of his assumption of office? How come gridlock has been constant on the Mokola/Salvation Army road, to the extent that a newspaper showed a picture of several bewildered car owners labouring to turn back in the middle of the flyover as a result of holdup?” it asked. Prince Oyelade said that the most heart-rending part of the ACN’s release was that it failed woefully to answer any of the issues raised by Senator Ladoja in the vexed interview and other comments. “The issues were simple and direct: Why did Mokola’s 470-metre two-lane flyover cost N3 billion while the Abeokuta 620-metre four-lane flyover plus adjoining road cost 1.5billion naira?” the release further queried. The statement also asked why, for every one naira spent by Ogun State on the bridge, Oyo spent six naira. “In spite of the scandalous N3 billion spent by the Ajimobi administration, why is the flyover closed to heavy trucks, unlike the Molete and Abeokuta flyovers,” it said. The release stated that it was amused by ACN’s allegation that Senator Ladoja’s engineering certificate was doubtful. “Ladoja finished his secondary school at Ibadan Boys High School in 1963 with three distinctions and had his Higher School Certificate at Olivet Heights, Oyo with distinction in Pure and Applied Mathematics and got admissions to study Engineering at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria,University of Nigeria Nsukka and the University of Lagos in 1966, but he opted for the University of Liege in Belgium because he was given schorlaship to study Chemical Engineering which was unavailable in any Nigerian University at the time. “The same academic credence can hardly be attributed to their principal whose claim to having a Masters degree has been disclaimed by INEC which has in its custody only his diploma in Business Administration,” the party said
Posted on: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 18:33:45 +0000
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