Alaafin wants Ajimobi to review sale of govt houses

Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyem

 The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, has advised the leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria in the state to prevail on the Governor-elect, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, on assumption of office, to review the sale of some government houses to government functionaries and private individuals.
He said the sale carried out by the outgoing administration in the state was unacceptable to the people.
The traditional ruler made the call in his palace on Tuesday when leaders of the ACN led by the chairman, Chief Akin Oke, paid him a thank you visit for his support to the party during the general elections.
He expressed concern over the way government properties, which were inherited from the founding fathers of the Yoruba race, were sold out to highest bidders to the detriment of the people.
He said, “All the government quarters in the Government Reservation Areas, the housing estates and the district officers’ residences in the state were all sold at the cost of between N10m and N50m.
“How many people can afford such money if not those in the government, who bought the houses with government money?
“They should be asked to give us details of how they got such outrageous monies to purchase the government buildings which supposed to remain our legacies.
“There is the need to ask questions and embark on the review of the system for posterity sake.”
Oba Adeyemi said the greatest albatross of the outgoing government was that it derived pleasure in shunning wise counsel.
He flayed the state government for shunning suggestions.
He said, “They said they did not need the advice of the elders who are their fathers. I don’t know anywhere in the world where the advice of elders are not sought or ignored on issues bothering on administration and the lives of the people.
“In the USA, there are three basic governments: the visible government, the invisible government and the business conglomerates. They all determine how the country is run.
“As elders, we shall sit back and watch the way you are going to handle the tasks before you. Try to emulate Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State on how to develop this state better than it is now.”
Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala has described Alaafin’s call on Ajimobi as a welcome development.
The governor made his position known in a statement by his spokesman, Mr. Dotun Oyelade.
He said, “If the Ajimobi administration accedes to that request, here are some of the details it would find: that N3.6bn was collected from the exercise and intact in a bank for the Contributory Pension Scheme; that a body of senior civil servants, headed by the Head of Service, oversaw the bidding exercise; that about 30 per cent civil servants are beneficiaries and all biddings were advertised in major national dailies. We restrain ourselves from joining issues with Kabiyesi.”
By Olalekan Adetayo           Courtesy Of: Punch