Osun Decries Accord Party’s Comment on Award of Osogbo-Okinni-Ilobu Road Project

Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo

Osun State Government has explained that it took over the reconstruction of the Osogbo-Okinni-Ilobu road, which is a federal road, in order to alleviate the hardship motorists and other road users face daily why plying the road.

The government said the facility had been in a deplorable condition for so long and it could not afford to allow its citizens continue to suffer on the road, adding that it followed due process in taking over the project.

One of the opposition parties in the state, the Accord Party (AP), had in a statement accused the state government of taking over a road project that had already been awarded by the federal government.

Reacting to the statement by the AP, the Chief Press Secretary to the state governor, Ismail Omipidan, described the party’s claims as unfortunate, lame and illogical.

He said while the contract for the rehabilitation of the road had been truly awarded by the federal government on two different occasions since 2012, no concrete work had been done on the project, a development he said forced the state government to take over the project.

According to him, “The contract for rehabilitating the road was first awarded by the federal government 10 years ago, but since then, no significant work has been done on the project that has caused so much hardship for our people who use the road.

“It was for this reason that the state Governor Adegboyega Oyetola-led administration decided to take over the project to address the needless sufferings and loss of man-hours on the facility.”

Omipidan further noted that the AP should be more concerned on how to sell its candidate to the people of the state rather than engaging in a futile exercise.

“The party’s comments on the take-over of the road project by the state government are lame and illogical,” he added.

Omipidan further said: “Accord Party should simply bury its head in shame. Are they saying we should continue to allow the people of Osun State to suffer under our administration simply because the road belongs to the federal government?

“If they were discerning enough and if they had listened to the governor’s speech on the day we flagged off the reconstruction of that road, I am sure they would not bother themselves issuing a statement that lacks substance.

“The governor said it clearly in his speech that the road contract was awarded about 10 years ago, and that as a state government, even though it is a federal government project, we did everything possible to support all the contractors that have had cause to work on that road. But there was no positive result.

“The argument on the timing of the award of the project is preposterous and ill-judged. A government can award a project contract even a week to its expiration, as long as it is in the overall interest of the state and its people.”