Oyo APC Faults Makinde’s Claim, Says NAHCOM Refunds N24.6 Million To Hajj Pilgrims

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has criticized Governor Seyi Makinde over what it described as misinformation and falsehood being dished out to the public on the total refunds of N24.6 million made to the State pilgrims to this year Hajj in Saudi Arabia by the National Hajj Commission (NAHCOM), Abuja.

Meanwhile, Governor Makinde, had on Thursday while receiving a report of the 2019 Hajj from the Oyo State Pilgrims Welfare Board (Muslim Wing) , said that a new dawn has truly come to Oyo state going by the transparency demonstrated by the Board which refunded the sum of N24,628,900 to Hajj pilgrims before they embarked on the journey to Saudi Arabia.

The Governor noted that the Board’s action reflected what his administration has been doing in terms of transparency and accountability.

But, the Oyo APC in a statement issued on Friday, by its Assistant Publicity Secretary, Prince Ayobami Adejumo, disclosed that the refunds, according to NAHCOM, was as a result of overpayment made to it by the individual pilgrims during the registration for the 2019 exercise.

Adejumo said, “It is quite disturbing that a governor could tell blatant lie that he made refunds to hajj pilgrims when he did not do so. The refunds, in question, was made by a national body in charge of hajj (NAHCOM) and same was done for all the over 95,000 pilgrims from across the 36 states and the FCT at the completion of the 2019 exercise. One would have expected the governor to take responsibility for the female pilgrim from Oyo State who absconded in Saudi Arabia but he chose to lie about refunds made rather and this is uncharitable.”

The opposition party also alleged that the governor was being hypocritical in his style of governance as this concerned his administration’s handling of legacy projects of the immediate past government of Senator Abiola Ajimobi.

Making a direct reference to the media reports which had it that Governor Makinde had issued a stop-work order to the contractors handling the ongoing Ibadan Circular Road project put in place by the last administration, Oyo APC said that it “was unfortunate that the present PDP government was out to play unnecessary politics with everything not minding effects its action would have on the state.

“One would naturally wonder what could have motivated the governor to direct virtually all his actions towards obliterating the enviable record of good governance left behind by the Ajimobi administration particularly in the areas of physical infrastructure. Since his assumption of office in May this year, Governor Makinde has made it a daily habit to cry wolf where none existed.

“Why would a serious government wake up on a day and decide to blackmail its predecessor over a project like that of Ibadan Circular Road which was well conceived and transparently handed over to a Consortium for a desirable delivery? Governor Makinde played his usual hypocritical card when he acknowledged the importance of the project and at the same time reeled out lies simply to blackmail his predecessor who had to use his God-given wisdom to get sponsors for its implementation since government did not have the required funds to get it done.

“To set the record straight, Ibadan Circular Road project was awarded by the Ajimobi administration in 2018 without a dime coming from the government as it is being done under a Public-Private Partnership arrangement. The total stretch of new road to be constructed is 110km and not the 36km figure mischievously quoted by Governor Makinde. However, if the governor was not satisfied with the pace of work on the project, he could invite the Consortium involved to his office and sort things out with them.

“Interestingly, Governor Makinde can commission different model schools built by Senator Ajimobi to mark his own first 100 days in office. The same governor can distribute the books produced by the APC administration to public school pupils to kick off his controversial free education programme while he can also take delivery of medical equipment fully procured by Ajimobi and move them to Adeoyo State Hospital as his own initiative but he would still not be at peace whenever he comes across other lofty projects of Senator Abiola Ajimobi. This calls for a concern and we urge him (Makinde) to have a rethink”, the statement continued.