by Kolapo Olapoju

On Tuesday, 21 October, while speaking in Abeokuta, during his official defection back to Peoples Democratic Party from Labour Party, Gbenga Daniel had accused Ogun state governor, Ibikunle Amosun of making things hard for Ogun indigenes, with his double taxation, and also of incurring about N200 billion debt in less than four years.

Amosun had on Thursday, 23 October, during an assessment tour of the 20 local government in the state, stated that he would respond to the accusations in due time.

The right time would eventually come at the weekend, while speaking to members of the press at the commissioning of Orange Valley Estate constructed by Ogun State Property Investment Corporation, OPIC.

Amosun said the former Governor was in awe of his accomplishments, while adding that he doesn’t expect him and other critics to acknowledge his achievements in office.

He said, “I dont have time for them now, they are confused people. They marvel at our achievements in less than four years. When we started demolition, they said we are demolishing people’s house and nothing will be done afterwards but we started the road expansion and they were surprised with everything. When we started the model schools, they said it is a lie, the schools are now ready, they are shell-shocked.”

“When we started this estate, they said we can’t do it, today we have just commissioned 66 units and others are ongoing. We are having similar estates across the state. We are building another at New Makun in Sagamu, another in Agbara along Kobape road here and also at Alamala area. By the time all these are completed, the issue of housing would have been solved because we are building it for all categories.”

“All of us are entitled to good houses and this government is not sleeping over that, we will continue to ensure that the dream of the founders of OPIC to see that affordable houses are available to everyone is met, be you indigene or non-indigene.

“All these are giving our critics sleepless night, they never thought of seeing this state at this level. They thought we are like them. Remember that if you are in front of someone that does not like you, even if he stands on the tallest building, he will still be saying that he did not see anything. Let”s just leave them and continue with our mission to rebuild the state,” Amosun added.

The Governor also responded to the claims that Ogun state was knee-deep in debt of about N200 billion, barely four years into his administration.

Amosun said, “I am an accountant and I know that no bank in this country can borrow any state up to that, so where did they get such figures from. We are using just two banks and we owe one about N13 to N15 billion, so if we owe the other like say, N10 billion, where has that amounted to N200 billion.

“And to let you know, we didn’t borrow a dime to construct this estate. It is all these that are confusing them. We will not listen to them, they are pathological liars and a confused people, it is the proceeds we made on the estates like this that was meant for the middle class people that we are going to recycle and use to build that of the low class people. It is going to go round and they will continue to marvel, they ain’t seen anything yet.”

Kolapo Olapoju