The Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, expressed his disappointment with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for his failure to show empathy towards the victims and their families, as well as the Oyo State government, following a devastating explosion in the Bodija area of Ibadan.
During a visit to his office by the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, who came to offer condolences, Governor Makinde criticized Atiku’s lack of empathy and described it as “insensitive.”
Makinde expressed his disappointment that Atiku did not extend any condolences or even acknowledge the tragic incident.
Makinde said: “Let me use this opportunity to thank His Excellency, former governor of Anambra and Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi for the visit.”
“I thank him because politics didn’t seep into this. You came here to commiserate with us over the explosion. Investigate is going on. It was simply illegal miners storing explosives in an environment where they shouldn’t be.”
“It is a place where it’s meant for people to live in. It’s not a mining site. So, all the lapses that allowed such to happen had been looked into.”
“I am particularly grateful because the musketeers that went for the presidential election have reached out to me. The president has called me, and you have reached out to me, but my party candidate (Atiku Abubakar) has not called or even sent a text message.
“And I am saying it openly, so that our leaders will know that there is time for politics, you have a time for governance and you have a time for humanity. So, we want to say thank you so much, sir. We appreciate this visit,” Makinde said.
Presidential candidate of the Labor Party, Mr Peter Obi while speaking on the economic situation of the country and its effect on the masses in an interview with newsmen, called for a cut in the cost of governance at the federal level as a necessary sacrifice to move the country forward.
“All of us are now involved and all of us should work hard and make the necessary sacrifice to see that we turn around the situation and that is why it is necessary when things that what happened here happened, and the government responding in a manner government should respond and everybody comes to participate and commend them for doing the right thing.
“It’s a matter of sacrifice, today, elections are over, governance is the key thing and what is required for me, is to cut down on the cost of governance especially at the federal level, it is unacceptable the way it is going, we need to prioritize critical areas such as education, health and pulling people out of poverty.”
