In what is seen as laced with political undertones, eight months after the devastating flood disaster in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital which claimed hundreds of lives and properties worth billions of naira, the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are still locked in battle over the plight of the victims; AKINJIDE AKINTOLA reportsEight months after, the bickering between the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State over the last flood disaster in the state is yet to abate as the two parties are still engaged in serious infighting.What had initially started as a healthy competition between leaders and political office holders of the two parties as to which of them could provide succor for the victims of the disaster has now turned into what can be likened to a raging political feud with each of the parties now seeking political advantage from the sorrows and wound of the victims.Since the disaster, hardly can a month pass without the opposition PDP taking on the ACN over one allegation or the other over the plight of the victims in what is seen as subtle build up to the 2015 race in the state.And as to be expected, the ACN has not let each vitriolic attack go without appropriate, if not more venomous counter attack aimed at the jugular of the PDP which had been in control of the state for the previous eight years and which the ACN had always said there was nothing to show for it. Its like each time there is lull in the political climate of the state, aides of the former governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala will dig up something not entirely new to take on the ACN government over the flood disaster and you can trust the ACN not to allow the attack go unchallenged.The latest confrontation last week came about as a result of allegation that the total sum of money realized as donations from various donors was about N8.7 billion which the PDP accused the ACN of misappropriating.Convinced that the victims of last year August 26 flood disaster in Oyo State have been left in the lurch by the government, aides of former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, have accused Senator Abiola Ajimobi of non-judicious use of the alleged N8.7 billion realized as donations.To the aides, despite the huge amount of money realized from donations from well meaning Nigerians and corporate organisations, victims of the disaster have not really benefited apart from the token handed to them between September and November last year.The accusation was contained in a statement jointly signed by Prince Dotun Oyelade, Morounkola Thomas and Chief Gbade Ishola, his former spokesmen.According to them, instead, of Ajimobi to make positive impacts on people of the state, he sustains a government of propaganda with a lack-lustre performance.The aides argued that the most disgraceful of Ajimobi's alleged visionless administration was the callous neglect of flood disaster victims numbering over 100,000 across the state and in Ibadan.According to them, after the donations, 'in all, and as at last count, N8.7 billion was realized in cash alone, yet till this day, the victims lives have not been reasonably affected beyond the token handed to them between September and November'.But reacting to the allegations, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the state, said through its Publicity Secretary, Dauda Kolawole that 'It is funny that these aides of Alao-Akala have suddenly discovered the meaning of prudence and transparency. Where were they when their boss, according to the EFCC charge, was looting N50 billion of our money' The whole world knows that the greatest asset the Abiola Ajimobi government possesses is its integrity".As the rainy season is now around the corner, Akala's aides also complained that the Ajimobi government only pre-occupied itself with threatening pronouncements of further demolition of the houses of a people already harassed and neglected.Instead of asking the victims to vacate their houses, they reasoned, the administration should have explained 'how such a gargantuan amount of money can be frittered away or better still disappear into thin air, without anything concrete to prevent another disaster and succor for victims who are lucky to survive the tragedy'.'Ajimobi's aloofness', they stressed, 'is roundly exemplified by his penchant for junketing around the globe.'Barely nine months in office, the Oyo state governor has traveled abroad 22 times which means he is off his beat about twice a month', they alleged. It is recalled that when the disaster occurred, Ajimobi was out of the country on a trip on Holy Pilgrimage and his media people tried to manage the situation until he could cut short the journey to head for home to take charge. But the ACN said that its most precious achievements in the last nine months in government, aside the over 150 state and local government roads that are in various stages of completion in the state, was that it had succeeded in eliminating the massive corruption and massive theft of the people's money that was the pastime of the Adebayo Alao-Akala government.The party publicity scribe, Kolawole, said 'It is funny that these aides of Alao-Akala have suddenly discovered the meaning of prudence and transparency. Where were they when their boss, according to the EFCC charge, was looting N50 billion of our money' The whole world knows that the greatest asset the Abiola Ajimobi government possesses is its integrity,' the party said.On the issue of performance, the ACN said that the party in power is not only bringing a difference to the quality of work done in office, it said its performance so far had dwarfed its predecessors' in quality and capability to endure for decades.'We challenge Morohunkola Thomas, one of the authors of the said release, to tell the world what is going on at the moment on the road to his mansion at Elebu in Oluyole Extension area of Ibadan. The truth is, that road had been neglected for more than 20 years, even by Alao-Akala and is at the moment one of the 150 roads that the Ajimobi government is constructing,' the ACN said.On the youth empowerment scheme in the state tagged YES-O, the ACN said it challenged 'the Alao-Akala hirelings' to point at a single youth their government empowered in its four-year rule, stating that the ACN government ought to be commended for employing 20,000 youths rather than have it condemned by those it called 'jobbers in need of rehabilitation'. 'Perhaps these twisters of history do not know, the PDP-led Federal Government has chosen Oyo State as a pilot state, of all the 36 states of the federation, in youth empowerment, due to the novel empowerment programme. FG representatives have visited our state, studied the YES-O modalities and commended us for a job well done. We may be having teething problems of logistics but we are second to none in Nigeria for empowering the youth,' the ACN said.The party also flayed the writers of the release for engaging in what it called 'voodoo figure criticism' by claiming that the ACN-led government collected N8.7 billion donation from flood sympathizers, stating that 'this is a reflection of the voodoo government they ran for four years.''If they bother to ask the flood victims, they will be told how our state and local governments impacted their lives and how we lent them a shoulder to rest on in their time of crisis,' the ACN said.The party also said that it had awarded for construction most of the bridges affected by the flood, stating that if the Alao-Akala government had given regards to quality and had not laid store by 'piling heavy loads of corruption' on bridges constructed during its era, most of the bridges would not have caved in at the time they did.'Unknown to the media, because of the famish that the Alao-Akala jobbers have suddenly found themselves, and in contrast to the free flow of public money that used to ooze into their pockets during the past government, whenever they cannot withstand the hunger of this out-of-office time, they recycle allegations against the ACN, in order to collect relics of stolen money still domiciled in the hands of their principal', the ACN claimed. As at the moment, the actual amount realized remained in the realms of speculations the the ACN government was yet to make it public. Spokesman for Ajimobi, Dr. Festus Adedayo told the Nigerian Compass that the process to obtain the total amount was on and that when completed he would get in touch.
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