Flood victims in Akinyele LGA jubilate over bridge reconstruction

For residents of the Lagbeja community and its environs in the Akinyele local government area of Oyo State, who were left stranded due to a flood at the entrance of the community, succor has come their way.

Dr. Yunus Akintunde, candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC), for Oyo central senatorial election yesterday visited the community to inspect the project which is expected to cost him millions of naira.

Workers, with building materials, have been mobilized to the site when the Oyo-born politician came.

The residents of a flooded road in the community which connects Lagbeja, Oluana, Akingbile through Laniba to Ajibode along the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Moniya road, Power line, and Fijabi among 15 other settlements had last week sent a save our souls message to Governor Seyi Makinde to come to their aids.

Though the residents had noted that flood was a yearly occurrence, they said that last week’s flood was the most terrible witnessed.

They had suspected that the flood in the area came from water from the Moniya-Iseyin road, Olorisa-Oko, and Onikankan areas in Akinyele local government, adding that there was a need for the state government to raise the bridge and erect culverts that can cope with the volume of water flowing through the area.

The road, residents had said, was the only main entrance that serves many communities in Lagbeja and its environs, adding that the alternative Ajibode-Mogaji route was bad, muddy and lonely.

A Save our soul (SOS) from the community had read “This is the main and only road serving over 6,000 people living in Lagbeja community and it is the environment in Akingbile beside IITA along Moniya, Ibadan.

“The road connects Lagbeja, Oluana, Akingbile through Laniba to Ajibode along IITA Moniya Road in Akinyele Local Government, Ibadan.

“Lagbeja via Laniba road has been under construction in this political dispensation of governor Seyi Makinde for over three years now and yet to be completed which has been giving the people residing in these communities that comprise over 17 settlements in Ibadan city difficulty.

“We, therefore, appeal to governor Seyi Makinde, the senator, representative, local government chairman and others to quickly come to our intervention in rescuing our people from this erosion that is damaging our properties and denying us access to our comfort zone. Please save our soul.”

But on Sunday, Akintunde, who was received with pomps and pageantry, said he would not relent in doing whatever is in his capacity to alleviate the sufferings of the people.

He faulted some parts of the National legislation which he said were defective.

According to him, why should we have exclusive and residual lists. Everybody living in the country deserves attention, he said, adding that “When I get to the National Assembly by the grace of God, we will make sure we legislate on the need to make electricity companies buy transformers and not the people. It should form part of national legislation that no community should use personal funds to buy transformers.

“We have to stop what isn’t. Why would people buy transformers and afterward, it becomes the property of the companies. When you buy a transformer, immediately you power it, it becomes their property. Something you use your money to buy. No. These companies are privately owned. Some people own them. When they liquidate the company, the transformers will be counted as one of their assets.

“I launched a book I wrote on March 7th, 2022 to mark my birthday. It is about energy. There is a community in Akwa Ibom state. They bought their transformers but the consumers pay the community so as to be able to recoup their money.

“I know we are all Yorubas here. I swear to God almighty that I didn’t know I was going to be contesting when I facilitated streetlight to this community. How did I facilitate it? It is a federal government project. I was just at the right place at the right time. I know the man in charge. And they happened to be working on the distribution of the streetlights.

“So we deployed our network. If we weren’t there, they would have sent them elsewhere. To God be the glory that we are talking about it today. This was the same when they were distributing the borehole project. I just called Asiwaju Yemi Aderibigbe, your former council chairman, and that we will consider Akinyele LGA. And he told me they don’t have water in Iroko.

Speaking earlier, the president general of the community, Deacon Jonathan Oyeku thanked Akintunde for the gesture, promising to mobilize the community for his senatorial bid.

He recalled how Akintunde facilitated streetlights for the community. “So yesterday when they told me that the person who was instrumental to our streetlighting would be coming, I said that I must be here. I listened to his speech where he said he wasn’t even thinking about any ambition when he did this for us. That, to me, shows that you like the masses. Secondly, you have put smiles on our faces with this project. We have over 6,000 people living in this community. Whenever it rains, we can be stranded for more than two hours, to make the water subside. If it happens at night, some people would not sleep at home. We didn’t write you. You saw it on social media and you came to our rescue.”

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