The All Progressives Congress in Osun State raised concern over Governor Ademola Adeleke’s directive to restrict heavy-duty trucks from using the Olaiya Flyover in Osogbo......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
The party described it as unnecessary and requested for evidence that it was unsafe.
Some leaders of the party believed Governor Adeleke’s directive was sinister..
The governor, in a statement by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, had stated the directive was solely for safety reasons.
Governor Adeleke criticized over directive
However, the immediate past Osun State Commissioner for Works, Oluremi Omowaiye who worked for APC explained that the project went through standard evaluation, refuting the safety concern.
He challenged the administration to provide a technical report indicating that the bridge was substandard.
Omowaiye, an Executive Director, Project Implementation at the Federal Housing Authority, who was with other leaders of the party said:
“Before work would commence on the project, the first thing we did was to carry out an environmental impact assessment, and we did traffic count to look at the vehicular movement and congestion at that corridor.”
He further said:
“Then we discovered that the solution was to put a flyover, and we also discovered that most of the motor accidents usually happened because a lot of motorists, travellers plying that road usually travel at top speed.
“So, we wrote the Federal Ministry of Works, because the road is a federal road that we intend to do the project, following our assessment.
“As the Commissioner for Works under the Gboyega Oyetola administration, I supervised the project. Because Osogbo is the state capital, we looked at that project beyond structural designs. We added values to the flyover project. That was why we added fish to represent the cultural value of Osogbo, we added dancing fountains, we added solar lights because of travellers travelling at night, and cameras.”
In reaction, the Director of Media for the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State, Oladele Bamiji, said Adeleke took the decision based on the alarm raised by the motorists.
“Adeleke is not interested in erasing anyone’s legacy. Legacy of danger can’t be allowed to cause danger for the residents. As a governor, if he fails to act, and anything untoward happens, these people would be among the first set to attack the government.
“Safety of lives and properties of Osun people is more important than legacy of anyone. Motorists plying the road raised the alarm about the poor condition of the bridge.
“There was a motion on the floor of the House of Assembly by a lawmaker and the governor was advised to act. Whatever step is taken by the Governor has the backing of the Osun PDP. It is devoid of politics,” Bamiji said.
PDD’s emergency meeting
Meanwhile, Legit earlier reported about the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors’ forum is holding its emergency meeting at the Bauchi state governor’s lodge in Asokoro, Abuja.
As reported by Vanguard newspaper on Tuesday night, October 22, the meeting aims to discuss the state of the party and other issues concerning Nigeria as a whole.