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Alleges Governor’s Flout of FG’s Directive on Suspended Airport Project
- Safiu Kehinde
The Osun State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the state governor, Ademola Adeleke, of concentrating developmental projects at his hometown in Ede.
APC accused Adeleke of lavishing the state’s resources to develop Ede at the detriment of other towns that make up the state.
As contained in a statement issued on Thursday by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi, the Adeleke-led administration has allegedly turned Ede to a construction site where all the roads that leads to the town undergoing dualisation at fast rate.
The party warned that the governor may set a dangerous precedent for future governors who may follow his footsteps by prioritising development of their hometowns at the expense of other towns.
“Tongues are wagging in hushed tones across the state on the concentration of developmental projects in Ede, the hometown of the governor, since he assumed the political leadership of the state which constitutionally qualifies him to be the handler and decider of the collective patrimony of the yam and the knife belonging to the entirety of the state.
“It is, however, strange that rather than for the embattled governor to spend the resources of the state evenly, he has opted to lavish the common resources of the state to develop Ede at the detriment of all the other towns in the state.
“While no meaningful developmental project is noticeable in other towns and villages in Osun State under the administration of Governor Adeleke, Ede is like a construction site as all the four entrances leading to the ancient town have either been dualised or undergoing dualisation at a fast rate as workers are working there day and night.
“The governor himself must have lost count of the number of the inner roads that have been tarred in the community while the same cannot be said about the other towns making up the state.
“Unarguably, Osun State parades the highest number of urban centres among the comity of states in Nigeria but the constitutional rule that democratic governance should visibly address the even development of the towns and villages making up a state has been brazenly breached in the state under the unfortunate administration of Governor Adeleke.
“The bizarre approach of Governor Adeleke to governance is a dangerous precedent which is capable of being a misguiding factor to some future governors in the state who may be bereft of administrative prowess and conscience and who may believe that their top priorities of development are their hometowns to the disadvantage of the other communities as is being flagrantly witnessed under Adeleke.” The statement partly read.
The Osun APC further alleged that Adeleke’s concentration on Ede development is borne out of greed and fear of possible defeat in the forthcoming 2026 governorship election.
“It is only greed and rapaciousness in public office that could be responsible for the uneven development of the state under Governor Adeleke who has been rushing the developmental projects in his town in a manner suggestive that he has the premonition of his imminent defeat in the forthcoming governorship election of the 8th of August, 2026.” The party wrote.
APC also accused the governor of flouting the Federal Government’s directive suspending the international airport project in the state.
According to the party, the FG had halted the relocation of the Osun State International Airport project from Ido-Osun to Ede, following widespread controversies and protests.
Adeleke was however alleged to have resumed construction at the new site of the project in Ede.
“It has also become an informal topic in public places across the state that the Governor Adeleke-led administration has refused to obey the directive of the Federal Government through the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace to halt the relocation of the Osun State International Airport project from Ido-Osun to Ede, following widespread controversies and protests, as work is said to be going on in the new airport construction site day and night which amounts to the governor daring the Federal Government.
“It would be recalled that Governor Adeleke had announced that the foundation-laying ceremony for the new airport would be held on December 16, 2024, in Ede, his hometown and it would feature key dignitaries, including Ministers of Works and Aviation, David Umahi and Festus Keyamo.
“However, in a letter dated December 6, 2024, signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace, Dr. Emmanuel D. Meribole, and addressed to Governor Adeleke, the ministry directed the state government to suspend the project indefinitely.” The APC wrote.
The party challenged the Osun governor to confirm or deny the allegation before the public.
It alleged that a sum of N10 billion smuggled budgetary allocation for the airport project has been keeping the construction of the new airport going despite the directive of the Federal Government that the project should be suspended.
Meanwhile, the Osun APC slammed the state’s House of Assembly lawmakers over reluctance to challenge the governor’s decision to concentrate development projects in Ede.
The party expressed its displeasure with the lawmakers’ carefree attitude.
“One finds it difficult to believe that the so-called members of the state House of Assembly numbering 26 in all could be so carefree and ineffective to the effect that they have been warming their seats for this long in the state hallowed chambers while the state chief executive has been calling their bluffs by rapidly developing his home town to the detriment of the other state constituencies.
“What would be the excuse of the pliable Osun State lawmakers when they are confronted by their constituents to come up with their stewardship under the administration of Governor Adeleke for utterly neglecting their own constituencies while Ede, the governor’s town, has become the most developed community in the state?” The statement added.