The All Progressives Congress APC in Oyo state has told Governor Seyi Makinde to explain how he utilized the N50billion Relief Fund he allegedly received from President Bola Tinubu in the wake of the devastating explosion which ravaged parts of Bodija GRA in the state capital in January 2024 or resign from office immediately.
Former governor of Ekiti state, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has revealed during a live interview program aired on a Lagos-based private television station on Friday that Gov. Makinde got the money on behalf of the victims of the explosion when he visited the President to brief him on the incident but he (Makinde) failed to either acknowledge the receipt of the huge sum of money or utilize it for the purpose of providing succour to those lost their lives and properties to the incident.
In a statement issued at the weekend and made available to journalists by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, Oyo APC berated Gov. Makinde for his disparaging remarks against President Tinubu and his Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, during a recent media chat in which the governor alleged that he turned down the request of the President to organize the opposition APC in the state even as he was quoted to have said that the Minister of Power lacked the capacity to deliver.
“Gov. Makinde emerged the new face of sleaze immediately he assumed office as the governor of Oyo state in 2019 when he started reviewing existing government contracts and inflation their costs astronomically. The trend continued unabated with a reckless show of penchant for award of contracts without any recourse to Due Process provision of the law as evident in the award of contract for the renovation of Agodi Government House and the second phase of the Ibadan Circular Road Project at the costs of N63.5b and N259b respectively.
“On the issue of Ibadan explosion, Gov. Makinde claimed to have spent N4.5b on the victims even without accountability or proper record to show who got what. Now that his close friend and fellow party man has disclosed that a whopping N50b was actually paid into the coffers of the Oyo state government as a Relief Fund by the federal government, Gov. Makinde should that a flippant reaction by his media aide cannot be enough as the whole world needs to know what he did with the money.
“And lastly, it should be on record that there was never a time that Oyo APC required reorganisation in the hand of Makinde who has emerged Chief Pall Bearer of the PDP which gave the platform to be a governor for two consecutive times. As it stands now, the least amongst the prospective gubernatorial aspirants in our party possesses greater capacity to be innovative, creative and successful as the state governor than the one who merely celebrate window dressing and inflict hardship on property owners and other residents across the state.” APC said.
