Date: 2015-01-29

Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Senator Simeon Ajibola, have disagreed on the execution of capital projects in the state.

Ajibola said he contributed N1.5 billion into the execution of capital projects.

The PDP candidate said the contribution was made through the Kwara State National Assembly Joint Project.

But Ahmed, who is the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, argued that his opponent was not telling the truth because he was desperate to impress the people that he had performed as the Senator representing Kwara South.

Ajibola said he contributed to the construction of Baruten Road, the Ilorin Cargo Terminal and the International Vocational Centre at Ajase Ipo.

But the governor dismissed the assertion as blatant lies, adding that those projects were funded from Federal Allocation, internal sources and bank loans.

In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Dr Muyideen Akorede, the governor challenged the Ajibola to prove his financial contribution to the projects.

Ahmed said he was disappointed that the senator displayed ignorance about how state government’s projects.

The governor said it was ironical that Ajibola did not understand the workings of the state he aspired to govern.

On the two-kilometre road in Isapa, which Ajibola claimed to have executed, Ahmed said the state government spent over N200 million on the project, at the senator’s request.

The governor also challenged the senator to reveal how many Federal Government projects he attracted to Kwara State and which Bills he sponsored in the Senate.

He said the Federal Government’s Ajase Ipo to Erin Ile Road remained in serious disrepair, despite being a major road in Kwara South, which Ajibola represents in the Senate.

Ahmed explained that his administration had rehabilitated 400 blocks of classrooms in primary and secondary, including the School for Special Needs, Ilorin; GSS, Agbamu; GSS, Omode; GSS, Afon; GHS, Ilorin; Mount Carmel, Ilorin and CSS, Lade, among others.

Ajibola, who spoke through the Director of Administration and Logistics of his campaign organisation, Prince Shuaib Olanrewaju, said part of the N1.5 billion was used to build Baruten Road; the Cargo Terminal at Ilorin and the vocational centre at Ajase-Ipo.

He said: “Without being immodest, I have over the years been able to influence and directly facilitate numerous capital projects in Kwara South Senatorial District.”

The senator listed his intervention in education in Kwara South District to include the construction of classrooms in Isapa, Ijagbo, Babanloma, Oke-Oyan and Okeya-Po.

Ajibola said: “I pay a monthly stipend ranging from N10,000 to N20,000 to about 120 Kwara South indigenes while about 60 communities have benefitted from me on self-help development projects.”