The Ogun State Government has advised the people to be wary of political opportunists who take delight in lying to get sympathy and votes.
This call was made following the claim by the Governoship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the March 11 election, Biyi Otegbeye, that the Government spent N7bn on the Gateway City Gate Project at the Sagamu Interchange, whereas the cost was less than 5 percent of his claim.
A statement issued in Abeokuta on Friday by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Dapo Abiodun, Mr Kunle Somorin described Otegbeye’s assertion as “monumental falsehood”.
According to him, “Otegbeye does not have an idea of how Government runs hence dishes out lies that catches his fancy to whip up sentiments against the people’s governor, including this manner of unpardonable lie”.
The statement reads:
“The attention of the Ogun State Government has been drawn to a video clip of the governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, one Biyi Otegbeye, purporting that the Gateway City Gate Monument at the Sagamu Interchange was erected at a whooping N7bn.
“While we do not intend to join issues with Mr Otegbeye and his likes over barefaced falsehood and puerile attempt to sell his candidacy to the good people of Ogun State, it is pertinent to state that his claim is not only pure falsehood, but also absolute fallacy, complete calumny and a figment of his warped imagination.
“Having failed to clinch the APC gubernatorial ticket, Otegbeye has been wandering round parties, shopping for cheap and less known parties’ ticket, trying to get on the ballot through the back door – fair or foul.
“His attempt to hoodwink the public through his appearance before the revered League of Imams and Alfas. spewing falsehood around the City Gate Monument shows the kind of mindset he has if he were to be Governor of the State
“The fact of the matter is that the iconic Gateway City Gate Monument that has received rave reviews and endorsements by a wide segment of the public, including the Presidency costs less than 5 percent of his imagined cost. Mr. Otegbeye must probably have thought or believed that a project of such magnitude could not have cost less than N7bn. He probably would have spent this or more if he or any of his kind were to be in charge of the people’s Commonwealth in Ogun State.
“The custodian of this Commonwealth today – Prince Dapo Abiodun – is a proven prudent manager of men and resources, whose track records in the private sector justifiably earned him the people’s trust and mandate, which he equally brought to bear on public service and governance in the last 44months!
“He has deployed people’s resources to build more than 400km of roads, rehabilitated over 1000 public schools, built 1,500 affordable housing units, revamped the health sector, created thousands of jobs in ICT and agriculture, digitised the state economy and turned Ogun State to investors’ first destination of choice and the Industrial Capital of the country.
“We are confident that Ogun State people are too sophisticated for this kind of infantile politics of Mr Biyi Otegeye and other mudslingers and fake godfathers
“We would not be deterred from delivering the dividend of democracy by the antics of people like Biyi Otegbeye. While calling our people to ignore him, it is in his enlightened self-interest to seek knowledge in order to address his ignorance and apologise to the people of Ogun State, especially the League of Imams and Alfas for his lies. The people deserve to know how Mr Otegbeye arrived at this bizarre figure. Of course, it was simply concocted!
“Otegbeye, probably out of ignorance thought the Gateway City a fancy flight. No. It is a more fundamental symbolic depiction of our diversity and strength.
“The Gateway City Gate Project is not just a Park or beautification project, it is a welcome sign to visitors, investors and everyone that something new is happening in Ogun State.
“It is our welcoming brand to the entrance of the State Capital and centre point of our State and an ICON depicting the joining of hands for Building the future Together in our State. It is a symbol of our unity and a unifying structure that binds our people together”
