Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, and officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress on Wednesday expressed divergent views on the protest that greeted the bad conditions of roads in Ado Odo/Ota Local Government Area -namely the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway and Sango-Ota- Idiroko Road.
Recall that the NLC had on October 6 led a protest around Joju and under Bridge area along the Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta Expressway, and had given both the state and the Federal Governments 21 days ultimatum to fix these roads or be ready for a total showdown.
However, the 21-day ultimatum lapsed on Wednesday, and the NLC and some residents returned to the bad spots along the Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta Expressway to express their displeasure on the slow pace of the palliative being carried out on the road.
However, the governor had reacted to the latest protest by the NLC, expressing his disappointment over what he described as “the attempt by some group of individuals to stage a demonstration over the deplorable condition of roads in Ado Odo/Ota Local Government Area of the state.
Abiodun, who described the incident as “unfortunate”, gave this position while speaking on Wednesday, 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 today 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 attempt to get the Federal Government release 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, while calling on the people to stop playing politics with issue affecting the lives of the people , disclosed that a sum of N75bn would be needed to rebuild the road, declaring that the state does not have such money.
However, the Chairman of Ogun State NLC,Comrade Emmanuel Bankole led the protest after the 21-day ultimatum given to the Federal Government to fix the road and bring the pains of road users to an end.
The protesters accused the Minister of Works and Housing,Babatunde Fashola describing as “a liar” and accusing him of “deception,” because he had promised to start work immediately when he visited the bad portion of the road months ago.
But it was discovered that it was the state government that led the palliative works being done.
The NLC also expressed its disappointment of the slow pace of work, since it gave the ultimatum 21 days ago.