The gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last general elections in Oyo State, Chief Bayo Adelabu, has revealed that the state is moving backward under Governor Seyi Makinde in the last one year.
Adelabu, who was former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), made the declaration while featuring on radio program at Fresh FM, Ibadan, the state capital on Saturday.
This was his first time of speaking publicly on the affairs of the state after losing the election in 2019.
Despite the fact that he maintained that it would be unfair to compare the first year administration of Makinde to the eight years of the immediate past Governor, Abiola Ajimobi in office, he pointed out that the current administration has not doing anything tangible.
Adelabu said: “In terms of security, it is the impact that you are going to measure and of late we have been seeing pockets of crimes such as car snatching, robbery, in the last one year; that did not happen in the eight years of Ajimobi.
“We have seen the return of area boys. Ekugbemi vs Ebila. These are people that were silent during the eight years of Ajimobi. In all the local areas now, go there you will see thugs on rampage.
“In fact, almost every night, armed robbers go to those areas. Go to Kudeti, Popo, you will see that. Rape cases in Oyo State too, in fact, we are getting notorious among the comity of states.
“The rape case in Oyo State is higher than any other state in Nigeria. There is no night economy in Oyo State anymore because people now live in fear, even before the COVID-19 started. It was not what it was when Ajimobi was there anymore.
“He also stated that the recent re-commissioning of the CCTV security project that Ajimobi had earlier commissioned is because Makinde does not have anything tangible to commission, adding that “now, everyone is protecting their family houses so that the re-commissioning committee will not come and start re-commissioning it or even Cocoa house.”
He maintained that if care is not taken, after re-commissioning Ajimobi’s projects, Makinde might have no choice but to start re-commissioning projects carried out during the tenure of former governor Alao Akala, Rashidi Ladoja and Bola Ige.
“What we are seeing now is just the result of a sudden and unexpected victory of their party.”