The piece titled ” A Harrowing Trip To Eruwa” has elicited diverse response.
There are those who felt the piece was a direct confrontation to the Speaker, Oyo state House of Assembly, Adebo Ogundoyin.
Some die hard partisan politicians felt it was a sponsored job which is meant to discredit the PDP in favour of the APC.
Interestingly, many of our people in Ibarapa embraced the write up as a timely intervention and many also volunteered information which I must confirm were out of my personal knowledge before I wrote the piece.
I must put it on record that my write-ups, are influenced by objective motivations and those who have known me for some time will attest to that fact.
Our society is in dire need of fearless and courageous individuals who will not be bothered by whose ox would be gored when truth are spoken.
Public offices are held in trust for the people and as public office holders, the citizens are the masters and not the other way round.
Accountability in public office is key to developments and the citizens will be doing the society a great deal of good when they stand up against tyranny and abuse of office.
I made references to two Road projects in my initial write up which were abandoned by the contractor within Eruwa and I said that information at my disposal revealed that the younger brother of the Speaker, Oyo state House of Assembly has been fingered as the defaulting contractor.
The two Road projects in question are that of the New Garage to Oke Ola junction and the Alayande junction to Isaba.
By the time I wrote the piece yesterday, I never knew that the said younger brother of the Speaker also got another contract within the premises of the Lanlate Campus of the NCE, the same, also in reckless abandon.
Now, let us discuss the issues around this abandoned projects with a view to establishing why they are considered a misnomer.
There is a crime under the EFCC Act referred to as ” Abuse of office”.
How does a public office holder abuse his office?
Under that Act, award of contracts to friends and relatives, most especially, in contravention of the procurement Laws is an Abuse of office and it is criminal.
Now, it will be interesting to know what qualifies the young man in question to be handed over such big projects.
Who awarded the projects to him? Is it the Governor or his Elder brother? Has he ever handled such projects before?
Who is the client? His brother, the Oyo state Government or Ibarapa East Local Government Council?
Under which Company name did he bid for and got the contract? When was the Company registered and how many of such jobs has the Company handled successfully prior to taking the ones in question?
With which funds is the project running? Local Government funds as it has been alleged or state funds?
Is it true that the Speaker is on the neck of the current Chairman of the Local Government, demanding for funds to complete the abandoned projects?
Was there a time limit within which the projects were specified for completion?
There are more questions than answers about the projects in question and something smells fishy.
The Governor of Oyo state, the Speaker of the Oyo state House of Assembly and the gentleman in question must come out and tell the world exactly what is happening.
No matter how much some people will want to hide under premordial sentiments and except us to keep quiet, we will not succumb to threats and blackmail.
If the fellow had done the job in time, perhaps, we will not be at this ugly juncture.
The projects have been abandoned for years. The citizens are suffering and those who are responsible for their suffering continue to display opulence.
It is not only the citizens who must demonstrate sense of responsibilities.
Those who govern them equally have responsibilities to discharge and transparency is one of the responsibilities of Government.
The recklessness going on in Ibarapa is another pointer to why Governor Seyi Makinde has been jittery about the judgment of the Supreme Court which granted Financial Autonomy to the Local Governments.
We have had over five years of Governor Makinde’s supervisory roles over the 33 Local Governments and it has been marred by allegations of mismanagement of funds.
I think we have come to a point where every citizens of Oyo state must raise advocacy to demand for a probe of the Local Governments in Oyo state for the past five years.
How could a young man of less than forty years of age without any known experience in Road construction be awarded contracts running to billions of Naira?
In Ibarapa East, the crow has beaten the hatchlings of the sparrow, a big fight is in the offen.
Our mumu don do.
SOLA ABEGUNDE.
