By Lai Mahmood
Engr Oyedele Hakeem Alao has vowed to sue the governor of Oyo State, Engr Seyi Makinde and the entire state government under his leadership if he was not prevailed upon to drop the purported plan to access N100bn to finance some projects in the state.
This was contained in a release by his head of media, Omotayo Iyanda, in Ibadan, on Sunday.
In Engr Hakeem Alao’s words, “We will see to how to stop Governor Makinde from this insincere reckless and clandestine move via a litigation if GSM refuses to listen to voices of reasoning.”
The gubernatorial candidate of the deregistered Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the 2019 elections said he would head straight to court if Governor Makinde refused to heed the call of the stateholders and great sons and daughters of Oyo State, while reminding him that, “Oyo State is a collective patrimony and an inheritance belonging to all”, advising him to “stop behaving like he is the only owner of the state and all-in-all in power!”
Engr Hakeem Alao called on the royal fathers in the state, particularly, the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji, the religious leaders and other stakeholders to prevail on Governor Makinde to desist from proceeding to take the bond.
The civil engineer politician said that it was shocking at this stage that Governor Makinde had concluded plan to take such a huge sum of money as loan considering the present debt profile of Oyo State and the speeches and promises he made during the political campaigns in 2018/2019.
Engr Hakeem Alao said, “It was disgustingly shocking hearing the amount in the bond that Governor Seyi Makinde has decided to take to finance projects that could be financed gradually through IGR if he had been visionary, creative and hardworking enough without throwing the genuinely hardworking and innocent citizens and residents of Oyo State into a perpetual financial burden which might be difficult to be liquidated in scores of years to come and hamper the economic progress of the state and comfort of the people.”
He added that any sensible man should wonder what had gone wrong with a governor who spoke against his immediate predecessor, late Senator Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi, in 2018, for taking a loan to the tune of N130bn in seven years, emphasizing that “Engr Makinde, in just about 15 months in power, has taken roughly about N150bn if allowed to take the N100bn he has decided to take.”
The AD governorship candidate, therefore, asked, “What has gone wrong with Engr Seyi Makinde who promised pre his election to turn Oyo State into a safe haven economically and increase the revenue base of the state to move the state into prosperity? How can a clear-headed leader attempt to take such a huge financial burden considering the debt profile of the state already? How can a leader who is not delirious have such boldness to take such a humongous loan burden to finance projects that cannot liquidate the credit? Has Engr Makinde and his team quickly forgotten that they said in 2018 that Senator Ajimobi had put Oyo State into a reckless and unprecedented debt situation in the 42-year history of old Oyo State and making Oyo the 5th most indebted state in the federation?”
While appreciating Chief Adebayo Adelabu for the technical analysis he offered on why the bond should not be taken, Engr Hakeem Alao, therefore, begged to know whose regime’s debt profile would be unprecedented if Governor Makinde proceeded to take the bond, asking, “Which one is unprecedented now? His or Senator Ajimobi’s and which position will Oyo State occupy in the comity of states regarding the debt profile by the end of the Makinde administration if he is allowed to continue like this?”
Also in the release, Hakeem Alao, a civil engineer managing international contracts running to billions of dollar, took a swipe on Governor Makinde on some of the contracts he has executed so far alleging him of inflating the contracts figures and giving such to his cronies.
He, however, challenged Governor Makinde to prove him wrong by coming out to defend himself in a public debate while he charged EFCC and ICPC to beam a searchlight on the governor and his cronies whom he uses to do his shady deals, particularly the book contract he offered a contractor in the Niger-Delta.
Engr Hakeem Alao states, “Even if he must take such a huge loan, the people of the state have a right to see convincing reasons to do so as it is not entirely wrong to take a loan to finance state projects but certainly not the types our governor attached the N100bn bond to. What will be the economic benefits of those projects to the citizens of Oyo State?
“The circular road project was muted and awarded by late Senator Isiaka Ajimobi as PPP, how did PPP then turn to the Oyo State project? We are not ignorant of the worth of the GSM business empire when he declared his networth to the tune of N48bn and now we can see where the purported N48bn is coming from. We are also not in the dark on the award of the books contracts and some other projects to contractors from the Niger Delta instead of the Oyo State indigenes.
“More painful, the contracts were inflated. We challenge GSM to refute these claims and come out for public debate on all these. If not, we, therefore, call on the EFCC and the ICPC to beam his searchlight on the GSM businesses and his cronies as related to the awards of the contracts in the interest of the people of Oyo and prosperity.
“So much insincerity, fast game, ineptitude and controversies have been associated with this administration under Engr Seyi Makinde. The UCH controversial Covid-19 N118m, the incorrect outburst by an aide about the efforts of his principal on provision of water in rural areas, cancellation of the third term of the 2019/2020 session without a deep thought about the implications of the decision, among others, are pointers to the fact that something is fundamentally wrong with this government.”
