So, Ramoni’s N8.4bn Unity Bridge will not Take Heavy Duty Trucks and Trailers?

By Sholyment Olusegun Olusola

I am utterly flabbergasted to see the anti-heavy-duty truck barricade mounted on the newly commissioned Unity Bridge—built after six years of Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq’s government.

I believe this Unity Flyover in Ilorin has once again exposed the grand hypocrisy and double standards of the Otoge propagandists who once criticized the Post Office Flyover built by the PDP-led administration since around 2010.

The contradictions and insincerity of the Otoge Comrades who form the ruling party in today’s Kwara State are becoming more glaring by the day. These were the same people who, before 2019 shouted themselves hoarse over the Post Office Flyover, claiming it was a failure because trailers and other heavy-duty vehicles could not ply it.

Fast forward to 2024, after six years in power, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq’s APC government has just commissioned its own flyover—the so-called Unity Bridge—at a cost of N8.4 billion, and guess what? It CANNOT take trailers and heavy-duty vehicles either!

As I was driving to and from Challenge area , I watched as some Engineers installing Barricades at the two entrances of the bridge, signaling that no trailer or heavy duty vehicles will be allowed to ply the new bridge that cost our government N8.4billion . So so ridiculous

It is laughable that the same people who attacked the Post Office Bridge for not allowing trailers and heavy-duty vehicles are now in government and, after six years, have built their own flyover that also CANNOT accommodate trailers! Even more scandalous is that while the PDP-led government completed the Post Office Flyover for N2.8 billion, the APC government has squandered N8.4 billion on Unity Bridge project with same capacity and quality as Post office

Where are the Otoge activists who were loud in their criticism back then? Why are they suddenly silent now that their own government has spent over three times the cost of the Post Office Flyover on a similar project with the same restrictions?

The people of Kwara deserve to know why a bridge that cost over three times the amount of the Post Office Flyover cannot serve a fundamental purpose for which the Otoge gang criticized PDP 14 years ago! This is yet another proof that the APC government in Kwara is nothing but a fraudulent, deceptive, and wasteful regime that thrives on lies and media manipulation.

ROADS TOO ARE BEEN BARRICADED AGAINST TRUCKS

Another worrisome development is the growing trend of anti-truck barricades on some newly constructed roads in parts of Ilorin and beyond. These barricades clearly show that heavy-duty vehicles cannot use many of the roads built by the Abdulrahman-led government—raising serious concerns about the quality of these roads and the justification for the billions of naira spent on them.

Apart from the fact that some of these roads have started wearing out and developing portholes in less than six months of their constructions, the erection of barricades on roads like Adeta, Itamon junction, oloje etc suggests that these roads are too weak to withstand heavy-duty vehicles. If roads that cost billions cannot accommodate trucks, then where exactly is the money going? The answer is clear: Kwara’s funds are being siphoned through inflated, substandard road projects that serve as conduit pipes for political merchants in government.

RUMORED INCREASE IN KWARA HOTEL RENOVATION COST BY N5BN

The level of financial recklessness under this administration has reached new heights. Well-meaning Kwarans have not forgotten the N17.8 billion controversy involving the so-called renovation of a mere hotel by the Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq-led government—an amount that even surpassed the total cost of building some five-star hotels in Nigeria from scratch!

But it gets worse. There are now strong rumors that the N17.8bn has been secretly inflated by another N5bn making it N22.8bn inside a secretly prepared supplementary budget. Whether this is true or not, we cannot say—because Governor Abdulrahman does not believe he owes the people of Kwara any explanation on how their money is being spent.

What is even more disturbing is the silence of the so-called Otoge activists and comrades who claimed they were fighting for Kwara’s progress in 2019. Where are they now that their own government is plundering state resources without remorse?

Are they no longer interested in accountability and good governance? Or is their interest only in who controls power, not how power is used? The same voices that criticized PDP’s flyover and roads must now speak up with the same energy—or forever admit that their struggle was never about Kwara’s progress, but simply about grabbing power and have access to publicly

It is time to hold the APC and Gov andulraaman accountable for their failed promises and reckless spending.

#KwaraDeservesBetter
#OtogeLiesExposed

Olusegun Olusola Adewara (Sholyment) writes from Ilorin , Kwara State Capital