A few days after the Oyo State government sent wives of state legislators on a wasteful jamboree to the United Kingdom, the executive arm took its turn today, the governor and about 15 commissioners and assistants jetting out on a parallel $250,000 , publicly-funded trip to the Olympics Games.
Newsmen learnt that the pretence of the governor, whose state recently suffered a devastating flood that rendered many citizens homeless, is that his team will be hunting for foreign investors at the Olympics.
In real life, the Oyo state contingent will merely be enjoying the Olympics and shopping in London, SaharaReporters was informed.
The governor is a member of the Action Congress Party of Nigeria (ACN), the leading opposition party in Nigeria, which has a sizable following in the Southwest region. The party is often quick to condemn wasteful spending by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ruling elite but typically ducks when its operatives engage in the same level of criminal conduct.
Only today, the ACN publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, issued a statement asking PDP chairman Bamanga Tukur to resign from office on account of his son’s trial for oil subsidy fund fraud, but the party has failed to prevail on the Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Ikuforiji, who is standing trial before a federal High Court in Lagos for stealing and laundering N500 million, to resign.
Among others, flood is a perennial problem in Oyo State. In just one instance last year, over 100 people were killed. And a few days ago, a temporary wooden bridge in Apete, Ido Local Government Area, was washed away, cutting off several communities.
Critics say that rather than fix these problems, Ajimobi has chosen to idle away in London and burn valuable development funds.
A Political Science teacher at the University of Ibadan told SaharaReporters that Ajimobi has turned out a huge disappointment to the people of Oyo state and that he would not be surprised if citizens soon start saying they preferred former governor, Alao Akala.
“The expectations that Ajimobi was going to improve on governance in Oyo state have been totally dashed,” he said.
“You hardly can see any presence of governance in the state except in ostentatious lifestyles of government officials and senseless jamborees.
