By Ayodele Oni
Coming almost two years after controversy trailed federal government reported release of N50 billion intervention support, following the January 2024 Bodija explosion in Oyo state, Governor Seyi Makinde has admitted that his administration has spent the ₦30 billion received.
The confirmation is coming months after the state government maintained that the money remained untouched in a dedicated bank account.
Makinde made the disclosure during an interview with Arise Television, where he explained that the government engaged the Nigerian Society of Engineers and professional valuers to assess properties affected by the explosion before paying compensation to their owners.
Former Ekiti state Governor, Ayo Fayose started the controversy last year when he accused Makinde of failing to account for the money.
Fayose alleged that the governor received ₦50 billion but released only ₦4.5 billion to victims, questioning the whereabouts of the remaining funds.
“We’ve spent the money. We got the Nigerian Society of Engineers, we got valuers, you know, they went out there, had the valuation of the properties, and then we gave money back to those people,” the governor said.
He explained that the fund had initially remained in the bank while his administration anticipated what he described as an attempt to use the Federal Government’s intervention support to blackmail him politically.
Makinde alleged that there were attempts to portray his administration as having received federal assistance without properly accounting for its utilisation.
“It was in the bank until, because you know, when you know the people that you’re dealing with, people should ask, how come governors were defecting to APC? But me, I stood my ground.”
The governor further claimed that he had anticipated the controversy surrounding the fund and was waiting for critics to raise the issue publicly before presenting his account of the transaction.
“Did they not try to blackmail me? We knew that they were going to get to that point where they will say, oh, we gave Oyo State this money. So I was waiting, and when they said it, I gave out my own report of that transaction.”
He added that after presenting his account, he directed the Commissioner for Finance to deploy the money to projects.
“I instructed the Commissioner for Finance, please put this money now on project because they’ve done what we thought they were going to do.”
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