By Seyifunmi Odunuga
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Engineer Oyedele Hakeem Alao, has raised an alarm over what he called serial looting of the resources of the state by Governor Seyi Makinde, describing his administration as deceitful.
This is just as he called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to beam its searchlight on the activities of the administration since it came on board in 2019.
Alao in a statement issued by his Media Office, in reaction to the arrest of the state Accountant-General, Alhaji Gafar Bello, by the anti-graft agency, over N9 billion money laundering allegedly deducted from the local government funds for the re-election of the governor in 2023, said Makinde has turned the state to cash cow to milk it dry.
Bello who was arrested last Friday when EFCC was alerted about a N9 billion found in the account of a politician arrested along with him was released on Monday.
The Oman-based Project and Contract Management Specialist, lamented that at a time the state is reeling under economic crunch with development at its lowest ebb, the governor through his acolytes could be engaging in a deal for their selfish interests, stating that it shows that he does not mean well for the people of the state.
He said there is no government in the history of the state that has taken the people for a ride like that of Makinde, noting that the huge amount that the EFCC arrested the Accountant-General for could go a long way in tackling many developmental projects lacking across the state
According to him, between 2019 and now, the administration of Governor Makinde has continued to devise ways and do things to divert public funds, disclosing that the governor denied the state of N76 billion World Bank flood project over his insistence that the contract must be handled by his preferred candidate as against those selected by the World Bank itself.
He maintained further that many abnormalities detrimental to the interest of the state have been happening under the administration of the governor, stating that these include inflation of cost of projects such as the construction of 76.7 kilometres Iseyin-Fapote-Ogbomoso at N43.1billion with a kilometre costing over N560 million; non-disclosure of revenue from the Park Management System (PMS); award of book contracts to contractors from the Niger Delta
and leasing of Agbowo Shopping Complex for 50 years at a cost of N4.9 billion.
While insisting that the present government in Oyo State is synonymous with litany of atrocities to siphon public funds , he said the establishment of the state anti fraud agency is a smoke screen to blind people as the chicken has come to roost with the arrest of the Accountant-General.
He said, “The arrest of the Oyo State Accountant-General by the EFCC for doing the bidding of his master, Governor Seyi Makinde, to lauder the sum of N9 billion belonging to the local governments do not come to us as a surprise. For quite some time now, we have consistently been bringing it to the public domain the various underhand dealings the government have been doing to siphon the state resources.
“We have no doubt in our mind that Governor Makinde would go down in history as the worst in term of scamming the people by doing the opposite of what he promised most especially running a prudent government to make life meaningful for the people of our dear state. It is quite unfortunate that the governor with his cronies are engaging in an unprecedented and reckless looting of the state resources. Indeed, the insincerity of the government is nothing but mind boggling.
“I believe that the time is ripe for the stakeholders and genuine lovers of the state to join the appeal to the EFCC to without further delay beam its searchlight on the horrendous activities of the administration of Governor Makinde identified so far and others yet to be identified before it runs the state aground and mortgages the future of unborn children in the state.”
