A group in oyo state chapter of the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP Unity Forum has called on the State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi to
tell the people of Oyo State how much of the resources of Oyo State went into
the governor and his wife's chieftain ceremonies held recently in Ibadan.as the Action Congress of Nigeria said that the Gov.Sen. Ajimobi did not spend a penny from government covers to finance his coronation.
The PDP Unity forum's position was contained in a press
statement issued in Ibadan by the forum's directorate of media and publicity
and signed by Chief Kolapo Raji and Hon Olugbenga Ademolue while that of ACn was also contained in a release signed by publicity secretary of the party Hon Dauda Kolawole.
PDP decried the
elaborate nature of the ceremonies with costs running possibly into millions of
naira which was unprecedented in the contemporary times. The Forum noted that
the "governor and his wife have demonstrated uncommon insensitivity to the
suffering of the masses of the people majority of whose sources of livelihood
have been unjustly truncated by the various unpopular and anti-people policies
of the Ajimobi administration."
The Forum further noted that
"a governor whose under watch the state education and health sectors have
totally collapsed coupled with the unpardonable prostrate local economy which
is inflicting hunger on the people, the non-payment of the 18,000 naira minimum
wage and the reign of terror which his environmental team is imposing on the
state ought to have shelved the charade which he had misinterpreted to mean
recognition". The Forum reminded the governor of the "a o m'erin joba
elekuewele " folklore.
The Oyo PDP Unity Forum concluded
that the "governor should be courageous enough to tell the people of Oyo
State how much was taken from the state treasury to organise this ill-timed
frivolity which has further confirmed the public perception of Senator Ajimobi
as a man who does not care about the suffering which the governed
are going through in the State."
The AcN in a swift reaction said “The bulk of what happened at the ceremony was feeding the crowd which Ajimobi, one of the first governors to declare their assets in Nigeria, and whose assets run into billions of Naira, could do from his private purse without batting an eyelid.
That was what he did. The others, like advertorials in the newspapers, were done by individuals and friends of the governor who were celebrating with the governor,” the party said. Stating that it understood the euphoria of the PDP and its Accord Party variants who had been going on a campaign of calumny against the urban renewal efforts of its party-led government, the ACN urged the opposition parties to own up to the fact that, for once, a government that was accountable to the people was in place in Oyo State.
“Let the PDP and Accord Party own up to the fact that Ajimobi is teaching them how to govern properly. We understand that the ratings of our government which have gone astronomical in the last one year
have given them sleepless nights. They will continue to have insomnia till election period,” the ACN said.
have given them sleepless nights. They will continue to have insomnia till election period,” the ACN said.
