The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has described the allegation of land grabbing against Senator Abiola Ajimobi by the Peoples Democratic Party’s administration of Engr. Oluseyi Makinde as a futile attempt to besmirch the reputation as well as records of achievements set by the former governor.
Makinde’s Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Kehinde Ayoola, had on Monday raised an alarm via a social media platform that he had uncovered a total of 26, 000 hectares of land which, he claimed, the immediate former governor dubiously allocated to himself from the expanse of government land available at a Forest Reserve in an unnamed location.
In its reactions to the development through a statement issued today and made available to journalists in Ibadan by its Assistant Publicity Secretary, Prince Ayobami Adejumo, Oyo APC said “the allegation was another in the series of fake news and decorated lies being employed by the present administration to cover up its lack of promise, incapacitation and incompetence.
“For the record, it is imperative to state here that Ajimobi administration left a solid foundation upon which those coming after it should build developmental policies and programmes since no single government can do everything. Key sectors such as; Security, Infrastructure, Education, Health and Agriculture were prioritized. It was on the basis of recognition of Agriculture as pivotal to employment generation, food security and industrialization which Sen. Ajimobi sought to attract direct local and foreign investment to the state through some ease-of-doing-business such as making land available to genuine prospective large-scale farmers.
“Without mincing words, such allocation of land was done under the government’s policy called Agro Industrial Zones. The government resorted to this option when it became difficult to access land directly from our communities. The land that was allocated then were the depleted portion of the forest reserves. Depleted in the sense that they had been encroached upon and the trees had been felled illegally without any replacements. At no time did Ajimobi benefitted from such allocation and the records are there.
“The barefaced lies coming from Ayoola this time is an improvement on the numerous ones told against the same Sen. Ajimobi since Governor Makinde came to power on May 29. till date, allegations of contract inflation, treasury looting among others have not been substantiated beyond media subterfuge and idle talks. On this latest allegation, we request the official who raised the dust to either buttress his argument with facts or tender his unreserved apology to the former governor who he had wronged for no just reasons.
“Meanwhile, we are not unmindful of the fact that Gov. Makinde does not possess any blueprint or action plan with which he plans to run the state as governor but rather than waste time on experiments or importation of ideas from a Niger Delta state, he should sit down and study the programmes and policies of his immediate predecessor and run with it since government is a continuum globally.” The statement concluded.
