Ibadan North federal Constituency which is comprising of a single Local Government with the highest population in Oyo State hosts the State Secretariat, Government House, the first and one of the foremost universities in Nigeria, the University of Ibadan, the Polytechnic Ibadan, the first television station in Africa, NTA, and the University College Hospital among others.
It is therefore a swing constituency and the elite capital of the state. With this, one would expect any representative elected from it to be cerebral and of sound moral standing. However its current representative in the Green Chamber, Olaide Akinremi, also called Jagaban’s capacity in these directions is being called to question from several quarters.
In a release made available to the media last weekend by spokesman of one of the several groups that are questioning Jagaban’s performance in the Green Chamber, Comrade Akinbiyi Adesola of Ibadan North Forum for Good Governance berated the lawmaker for not doing enough in his service to the people in the execution of multimillion naira project earmarked for the constituency in the 2020 budgetary provisions.
The forum stated that the budgetary provisions include:
“Ecological Challenges and Erosion Control in Ijokodo estimated to be about ₦37m.
Training For Cassava Processing for Women and Youths in Ibadan North at ₦87m.
Construction of township road in Ibadan North at ₦200m.
Construction of classrooms and provision of furniture at ₦200m.”
Adesola stated in the release that all the projects were slated for the year 2020 when national budget performed 100%.
Adesola further expressed his amazement at Jagaban’s incommunicado and refusal to grant even a single interview since his assumption of office in 2019 till date despite many calls for debate on radio and television.
In another media call out, another group going by the name of Ibadan North Forum for Accountable Representation accused the lawmaker of converting a portion of land owned by Immanuel College into private use.
The forum in a release made available to journalists on Monday by Adeagbo Ayodeji stated that Jagaban in a pretext of providing hall for the school has “converted a portion of the school premises into a den where indian hemp and other illicit substances are freely used by miscreants.”
The forum noted that this antisocial behavior has been impacting negatively on the innocent school children and residents of the area.
The forum noted that Akinremi, rather than being a positive role model to children of impressionable age attending the school, has through harbouring miscreants turned the school premises into a training ground for future gangsters, cultists and other antisocial elements.
The forum noted that this has led to upsurge in incidence of crimes like burglary, stealing, raping in the adjoining areas surrounding the school premises.
While one cannot assert and completely debunk the veracity of these barrage of accusations, it is clear that Akinremi, even as a public figure in whom so much trust and responsibility have been invested, would have come out to clear his name. These allegations border on possible pilfering of public fund, incompetence and gross lack of capacity, to creating and nurturing an environment that is incubating children of impressionable age, who are supposed to be future leaders, into drug addicts, gangsters, cultists and hardened criminals while facilitating crimes and endangering the lives of his constituents by harbouring miscreants.
These are not trivial accusations that any citizen should ignore, this is even more pertinent as the lawmaker is seeking for reelection. He would therefore need to come out to clear all these allegations.
This is a moment when silence may be an admission of guilt. He therefore needs to come out publicly and in person on radio and television to debunk these allegations.
