The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo state has condemned the Governor Seyi Makinde-led administration over its alleged penchant for making the people of the state victims of quests to further enrich certain individuals and clique in the guise of executing some developmental projects.
This submission came in reaction to the lamentations of the traders in Araromi Agodi-Gate Spare Parts in Ibadan whose wares and properties estimated at several billions of naira were destroyed on Thursday by the agents of the state government which came to demolish the popular markets ostensibly to pave the way for contractors who have been mobilized to convert the whole facility to shopping malls.
In a statement issued at the weekend and made available to journalists in Ibadan by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, Oyo APC also called for the immediate release of the 12 artisans who were remanded in Agodi Correctional Center last week at the instance of the governor following the release of a video clip on the social media in which they protested the forceful takeover of the piece of land which harbored their workshop located along new Ife Road and from where they feed their families.
“The vicious circle of land grabbing is taking a dangerous dimension in Oyo state as Gov. Makinde and his agents have moved from forceful takeover of valued land assets and dislodging the owners into “Operation Grab-the-land-and-jail-the-owner. Available record shows that over one million private residents of the state capital have been sent packing and dislodged from their workshops, business centres or shops in the last five years and this the government carried out without providing any alternative for them. This happened in Iwo Road, Ojoo, Challenge, Agodi-Gate, Adegbayi, Orita-Challenge, Apata among others.
“Denying people access to a place where they make both ends meet is not only callous but also reckless and despotic. The fate which the 12 artisans, who are currently behind bars, have suffered aptly exposed the person of Gov. Makinde. The same man was always full of crocodile tears for anyone who had any issue with late Sen. Abiola Ajimobi and a very clear instance was when a small part of a private commercial structure, established to have contravened the state building and town planning law, was touched in the build up to the 2019 general election, Engr. Makinde cried more than the bereaved as he took an advantage of the development to hoodwink the people. Now, the whole can see him in his true colors.
“More over, the way Gov. Makinde is going about the plan to bring whatever development to the market place where several thousands of hapless citizens do their daily businesses in Agodi-Gate, Ibadan raises some dust regarding the sincerity of the state government. Why not exhaust all avenue for meaningful engagement with the stakeholders before mobilizing bulldozers to demolish their shops and wares? Why chose a day that was declared an holiday by the authorities of the market? This wicked action has ruined many lives as most of the traders are counting their losses. Therefore, we demand that all the victims be compensated adequately while they should have their shops back.
“As a matter of fact, Gov. Makinde should prepare to incarcerate more citizens as many people are now poised to checkmate his excesses particularly as these concern poor conception and execution of projects, inflation of contract sums, diversion of resources, land grabbing, cronyism among other things. However, we call on eminent personalities within and outside the state to prevail on him (Makinde) to release the 12 incarcerated artisans immediately since they only voiced out their frustration against forcefully takeover of their place of work and this should make them criminals.” Oyo APC stated.
