Lagos-Abeokuta Road: Abiodun Chides Protesters, Says Governance No Joke

By Akinwale Kasali

…As NLC Stages Massive Protest After Expiration Of 21-Day Ultimatum

Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has sternly warned protesters at the Lagos-Abeokuta Road and Ado Odo Ota Local Council Development Area of the State to stop embarrassing and presenting the State in bad light to the world.

Residents and members of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, had taken to the streets to protest the deplorable State of the road, that has often led to gridlocks, accidents, stalling  businesses within the area.

Governor Abiodun stated that the roads are Federal Government roads and due to paucity of funds of his administration, he cannot embark on such project.

Expressing his disappointment over the conduct of the protesters, the Governor said it was a deliberate attempt by some individuals to soil his name and that of his Government

He described the protests as “unfortunate”, while giving his position on the issue in a virtual meeting with representatives of Ogun East Senatorial District on the 2022 budget held at the Governor’s Office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta,

He berated the demonstrators for trying to paint Ogun in “colours that do not represent the State”.

“The attempted demonstration in Sango-Ota is most unfortunate. Some people take delight in painting our State in a colour that does not represent our State.

“Ota is very important to us. The first set of roads by this administration was in that local government. The most expensive road, that is the Atan-Agbara road, is in the Local Government.

“Ogun and Lagos Governments have made attempts to get the Federal Government release funds for the Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta road to us for reconstruction, but no response. I have called on several occasions to Federal Government to give attention to the road. That road did not just get bad in the last two years”, he stated.

The Governor said some set of individuals are merely playing politics with issue affecting the lives of the people.

He disclosed that a sum of N75b would be needed to rebuild the road, declaring that the State does not have such money.

“Please be responsible, don’t play to the gallery. Governance is not a joke”, Gov. Abiodun warned.

The NLC had warned the State and FG that it would engage in a week long protest starting from the 27th October 2021 against the deplorable State of the road if the Government fails to take responsibility and fix the road.

It would be recalled that Minister of Works and Housing, Raji Fashola, had promised residents that the roads will be fixed soonest.

But residents are perturbed that despite the promise by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, nothing has been done, instead the roads  continued to be in pathetic state.

The NLC Ogun State Chapter Chairman, Emmanuel Bankole said they decided to storm the streets to protest after the expiration of 21 days ultimatum given to the State and FG on the repair of the Sango-Ota section of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

Bankole described Fashola as a liar, who thinks he can fool the people.

The workers and residents carried placards with various inscriptions such as “Enough of bad governance”, “Dapo Abiodun, let us enjoy the dividends of democracy in Ogun”, “Dapo, this suffering is too much”, “Hear our cries, Ogun people are suffering”, “Dapo repair our roads, it is our right,” and others, which stalled vehicular movement.

Bankole added that Ogun workers had declared Fashola a “persona non grata”, saying, “we don’t want to see him, he lied to us, he fooled us.”

Bankole said, “21 days ago, we were here. We gave an ultimatum to the government that we are not pleased with the state of the roads; particularly the Minister of Works coming here to promise that palliative works will commence immediately and several weeks after nothing was done. That was why the 21 days ultimatum was given.

“Interestingly, a few days ago, they started some works. We can see some loads of granites by the State Government. But this is not yet what we asked for. The Minister was here and he promised to commence immediate palliative, which is yet to happen.

“As such, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, for coming to lie to the citizens of Ogun State, he is being declared ‘persona non grata’ in Ogun State. We are declaring him an enemy of Ogun State. We don’t want to see him in Ogun State for coming to fool and deceive us that palliative works will commence and nothing was done.

“We saw what is in the ground which is the effort of the State Government. The Federal Government cannot be collecting all the money and be inflicting pain on us. That’s why we are here to make the statement loud and clear that Babatunde Raji Fashola, the Ministry of Works and also the FERMA in Ogun State are being declared persona non grata.

“When we leave this place, we are going to the FERMA’s office in Abeokuta and also Ministry of Works to send message to their headquarter in Abuja that we are not pleased with what they are doing.”