Osun govt silent over cracks on newly inaugurated flyover

•APC, Accord bicker

From Lateef Dada, Osogbo

Osun State Government has kept mute over the cracks on the newly inaugurated Lameco flyover in Osogbo, the state capital.

The cracks on the flyover has generated reactions from different quarters as All Progressives Congress (APC) and Accord Party (AP), traded allegation and counter allegations over the incident.

The Director of Media and Information of APC, Kola Olabisi, in a statement on Friday, said the party is vindicated because it raised concern that the N20 billion flyover bridge was awarded to an unqualified engineer.

Noting that it had warned Governor Ademola Adeleke against awarding the construction of the flyover to a fertiliser distributor while the governor combines the portfolio of the commissioner for Works with his office, APC posited that it is not an hyperbolic expression to observe and conclude again that all the projects carried out by the incumbent administration are grossly substandard.

“We are demanding the intervention of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE); the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN); Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB); Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (NICE) and Association for Consulting Engineering in Nigeria (ACEN) to urgently invoke their regulatory machinery in preventing imminent disaster likely to be brought on the state through the construction of substandard roads, bridges and flyovers being the only area the outgoing Governor Adeleke can claim to have touched in the state,” APC said.

But, the Accord Party, in a statement by its Chairman, Pastor Victor Akande, accused APC of vandalising the flyover.

He said the vandalisation is not ordinary criminal activities, but appear to be part of a calculated attempt by ‘desperate elements in the opposition APC’ to undermine and discredit the remarkable achievements of the current administration ahead of the forthcoming governorship election.

“Having failed to match the Governor’s impressive record of performance, these elements seem determined to destroy the very projects that are transforming communities across the state in order to create a false impression of government failure.

“These acts of sabotage is strongly condemned in the strongest terms and those behind them should know that public infrastructure belongs to the people of Osun State, not to any political party.

“The destruction of roads, public facilities, streetlights, and other government assets is an attack on the collective interest of our citizens and will not diminish the resolve of Governor Adeleke to continue delivering dividends of democracy to every part of the state.

“The security agencies is hereby called on to thoroughly investigate these incidents, identify those responsible regardless of their political affiliation, and ensure they face the full weight of the law,” Akande said.