By Dayo Johnson
AKURE—THE opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ondo State and the State Government yesterday traded words over the N13 billion the present administration in the state claimed it has spent on road projects in the last one and half years.

Governor Olusegun Mimiko had last week said his administration had committed N13 billion to inherited and on-going road projects in the state within the last one and half years.

Dr Mimiko was reacting to allegation by the opposition that he had abandoned all the road projects he inherited from the immediate past administration in the state. But PDP yesterday queried the N13 billion said to have been expended by the present administration on road projects.

PDP in a statement by its Director of Publicity, Ayo Fadaka said “we find this declaration both curious and ambiguous in the sense that no analysis of the spending has been made available to the public and that we cannot even see the roads that have gulped such an amount in this State.

We want to declare that the attempts this administration has made at road construction in this State has been most theatric as at each flag off of the construction we see earth moving equipment moved to site and only for same to disappear from those sites few days after and all that remains are the most mediocre efforts made at constructing the roads or even no presence of contractors at site.”

“For instance the N3.2bilion Oba Adesida road was awarded in November last year and all the contractor has done in the execution of this job is the removal of street lights and construction of the median along the road for one year.

The Ondo township road was flagged off around the same time at the cost of N3.8billion and all that is currently been done there now is the construction of culverts and another feeble attempt at road construction with presence of a lone grader in the execution of a contract of this magnitude.

The Fiwasaye to Airport road awarded for N4.1billion is the most ludicrous of the lot in the sense that the need for the road is almost non- existent, the contractor is not on site, yet advance payment has been made, while the Akure to Oba-Ile road has been abandoned.

In a swift reaction, the Chief Press Secretary, CPS,  to the governor, Kolawole Olabisi asked the PDP to shut up and cover its face in shame, wondering, “when do they become the custodian of the people of this state after their six years of fiasco.

Is it not a shame that they are now asking us how we spend money when they cannot account for billions of naira? It is only for the discerning and sane human beings that can see the physical Infrastructures in Ondo State.

We challenge Dr Agagu and his co travelers to show to the people of the state what he did in Akure, Okitipupa his home town and in Ikare. We have not completed our tenure after we will give account to the people of the state not PDP.”