A former Special Adviser on Youth and Sports to the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi, Mr. Afeez Bolaji Repete, has faulted claims by the Oyo State Government that his former principal extended the length of the Ibadan Circular Road project.
Repete cautioned Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration against making misleading statements about the project, insisting that Ajimobi did not alter its original scope before leaving office in 2019.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain made the clarification in an interview with DAILY POST on Tuesday, describing the attempt to link Ajimobi to the alleged road extension as an attempt to “lie against the dead.”
Reports indicate that the Ibadan Circular Road project, which cuts across six local government areas, was first conceived in 2005 by the then Governor of Oyo State and current Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rasidi Adewolu Ladoja.
He had originally approved a 150-metre layout for its construction.
Although his successor, the late Adebayo Alao-Akala, did not execute the project, Ajimobi awarded the construction contract before the end of his administration.
The present government has, however, maintained that it inherited an extended layout from the Ajimobi era.
But Repete insisted that Ajimobi never tampered with the initial measurement. According to him, the late governor had considered an extension in 2016 but abandoned the idea after residents protested against it.
He said, “Ajimobi initially increased the length but he reversed to what he met on ground when the people protested in 2016. So, when Makinde came on board, he met 150 metres. That is the position.
“Ajimobi met 150 metres and he added 350, but when people protested, he returned back to the original 150 metres. That was in 2016.
“It was Ajimobi that awarded the contract before Seyi Makinde revoked it. Ajimobi started it.”
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