The Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has asked Governor Seyi Makinde to explain how he allegedly utilised a N50 billion relief fund received from President Bola Tinubu following the January 2024 explosion that devastated parts of the Bodija Government Reserved Area in Ibadan, or resign from office.

The oppositeion party’s demand followed claims by former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, who said during a live interview on a Lagos-based private television station on Friday that Makinde received the funds on behalf of the victims when he visited President Tinubu to brief him on the incident.

Fayose alleged that the governor neither publicly acknowledged the receipt of the money nor deployed it to provide relief for victims who lost their lives and property in the explosion.

In a statement on Sunday, the APC Publicity Secretary in Oyo State, Olawale Sadare, criticised Makinde, accusing him of failing to account for the alleged fund while also faulting his recent remarks against President Tinubu and the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu.

Makinde had, during a recent media chat, claimed that he declined a request by the President to help organise the APC in Oyo State and was also quoted as saying that the Minister of Power lacked the capacity to deliver.

Sadare said the governor became “the new face of sleaze” shortly after assuming office in 2019, alleging that he reviewed existing government contracts and inflated their costs.

Regarding the Bodija explosion, the APC spokesman stated that Makinde had claimed to have spent N4.5 billion on victims, but without providing detailed records to show beneficiaries or disbursements.

“Now that his close friend and fellow party man has disclosed that a whopping N50 billion was actually paid into the coffers of the Oyo state government as a Relief Fund by the federal government, Gov. Makinde should realize that a flippant reaction by his media aide cannot be enough, as the whole world needs to know what he did with the money. And lastly, it should be on record that there was never a time when Oyo APC required reorganization in the hands of Makinde, who has emerged the Chief Pallbearer of the PDP, which gave him the platform to serve as governor for two consecutive terms.

“As it stands now, the least among the prospective gubernatorial aspirants in our party possesses greater capacity to be innovative, creative, and successful as the state governor than the one who merely celebrates window dressing and inflicts hardship on property owners and other residents across the state.”

He also dismissed Makinde’s claim about reorganising the APC in the state, insisting that the party never required such intervention and describing the governor as a beneficiary of the Peoples Democratic Party platform for two consecutive terms.

Sadare concluded that prospective governorship aspirants within the APC possessed greater capacity to govern the state, accusing Makinde of “window dressing” policies that, he claimed, had inflicted hardship on residents and property owners across Oyo State. (The Nation)