Akala must be probed, says Alaafin

IBADAN — ALAAFIN of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi,Wednesday, said that the out-going Governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala, should be probed immediately the new government takes over on May 29.

Oba Adeyemi urged the incoming Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, to investigate particularly how government residential areas across the state were sold and the whereabouts of the money made from the sales.

The monarch who made the call during a thank you visit by leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, led by the state party chairman, Chief Akin Oke, and the immediate past chairman, Chief Samuel Farinu, at his palace, said he was angry with the way the legacy of yoruba’s forefathers were sold out by the out-going governor to some of his cronies.

He said: “All the government quarters in the Government Reservation Areas, GRA, Ibadan, the housing estates, District Officers’ residences in the state were all sold at the cost of between N10 and N50 million.”

The ACN is on a thank you tour of the 33 local government councils of the state.

Alaafin expressed annoyance over the sale of the quarters allegedly to the highest bidders, stressing that the residential areas which were bequeathed to the Yoruba race by the founding fathers were sold out at the detriment of the masses.

Due to circumstances surrounding the sales of the quarters, Oba Adeyemi said there was need for the incoming administration to beam a searchlight into the transaction to determine “who bought the houses with government money and also the details of how they got such outrageous monies to purchase the government buildings which should remain our legacies. There is need to ask questions and embark on the review of the sales for posterity sake.”

With such outrageous prices, the monarch wondered if those who bought the houses were not those in government who could garner enough financial muscle to afford them. Wondering how many people could afford such money if not those in the government, Adeyemi bemoanedhow the traditional institution tried in vain to make the out-going administration see reason when the crisis between the workers and government grounded the state to a halt.