Save us from agonies of bad road, Oyo residents beg Makinde

Leaders and residents of Orisunmibare/Ita Faaji Community in the Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State, on Friday, appealed to Governor Seyi Makinde to rescue them from unending agonies of bad community road.

They made this appeal in their separate speeches while addressing newsmen in Ibadan, the state capital, on the agonies they face from the use of bad road on a daily basis, especially during the rainy season.

The Chairman of Otu Alaafia Estate Landlords’ Association, Ganiyu Are, said, “We are making this appeal having daily heavy rainfalls in six days since last Friday (Sallah Day) and which has rendered impassable the only road serving the community from the Wire and Cable end of the Apata-Abeokuta Road.

“We want, again, to make a passionate appeal to our amiable Governor Makinde, to come to our rescue in this community. It is true that the only road serving the community has never been tarred in the history of Ido Local Government and this state.

What we have been having since several years back is grading of the road which stopped about five years ago. But this has even turned out to be a curse for us as persistent heavy rainfalls over the years have washed away several layers of sand on the road.

“We have suffered several years of agonies, depravity and abandonment as successive administrations have turned deaf ears to our appeals to get the road constructed with asphalt. We thus heaved a big relief and we were grateful when we heard it on a good authority that Governor Makinde has listed the road in the 2025 Budget and approved the construction of the road.”

Are, therefore, urged him to redeem his pledge to construct the road.

Also speaking, the Chairman of Gbogun Community Landlords’ Association, Yomi Olaniyi, reminded the governor of his promise, noting that the governor will surely get the road constructed.

Your Excellency sir, we know that you are a talk-and-do governor. We have seen what you have been doing in the last six years in respect of road constructions and reconstructions in many parts of Ibadan and the entire state.

“Sir, we know that the task is enormous, even as the resources available to you is very meagre. But it takes an individual to effect a positive change in the lives of hundreds of thousands of a people.

“Several efforts have been made in the past to call the attention of our former governors to the deplorable state of this road. But our appeals have fallen on deaf ears. Sir, the rains are here and we are just entering the heaviness of the rainfalls. Kindly save us from the agonies and nightmares of our impassable road, particularly at this time of the season,” he said.

In his submission, the Chairman of Orisunmibare Central Community Association, the umbrella body of the 22 communities in the area, Olusola Awe, said the name of the governor will be written in gold if he can grant the residents their heart desire in respect of the road.

“Your Excellency, history has a way of recording human activities. You have already written your name in the positive side of history when we learnt that you have included our community road in the 2025 Budget for this state.

“We were also aware that road construction engineers from the state Ministry of Works have variously visited our community for an on-the-spot assessment of the condition of our road.

Going forward, your name will be written in gold, if you can take a further step and do what none of your predecessors has ever done. We will never forget you if our community and its residents can, for the first time, have a taste of good governance as exemplified by the Omituntun administration under your leadership.

“We shall forever be grateful to you, if you can remember us and save us from the perennial agonies engendered by the impassable situation of the Orisunmibare/Ita Faaji/Oganla/Opopin road,” he appealed.