The Oyo State Government has hit back at the campaign organisation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, over its allegation that Governor Seyi Makinde has “paralysed” the 33 local government areas in the state.
The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Segun Olayiwola Sangodoyin, described the allegation as misleading, urging the Alli campaign organisation to distinguish between legitimate political criticism and claims that could be tested against available records.
The response followed a statement by the Senator Sharafadeen Alli Campaign Organisation (SSACO), which alleged that Makinde had undermined local government administration in Oyo State during his tenure and “paralysed” the 33 councils.
But Sangodoyin said the allegation was not supported by the evidence of projects executed across the state.
He maintained that critics of the administration were entitled to scrutinise its policies and performance, but added that such criticism should be based on verifiable facts rather than what he described as a politically convenient narrative.
According to him, records of projects undertaken by local government councils and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) show interventions in roads, bridges, culverts, drainage, markets, electricity infrastructure, water supply, schools, public buildings and other community facilities across the state.
Sangodoyin said the evidence available from the Oyo State Government’s documented project records showed that Local Government Councils and Local Council Development Areas had, over the period under review, undertaken and completed projects across virtually every part of the state.
He said the projects cut across road construction and rehabilitation, bridges and culverts, drainage, markets, electricity infrastructure, water supply, public buildings, schools, security infrastructure and other community facilities.
Among the projects cited by the commissioner were the 14.1-kilometre Eruwa-Lanlate-Maya Road in Ibarapa East; the 15.75-kilometre Igbole Express Road to the Ibarapa Central boundary; the 10-kilometre Omi-Adio Junction-Ido Junction Road in Ido Local Government Area; approximately six-kilometre Akobo Ojurin-Olorunda Abaa Road in Lagelu; and the 6.45-kilometre Olodo Garage-Kasumu/Ajia Junction Road in Egbeda.
Other projects, according to him, include the 3.5-kilometre Olorunsogo Express/Ariyo-Amuloko Road in Ona-Ara; six-kilometre Idiko-Ile-Ayegun Road in Iwajowa; 3.1-kilometre Olive Estate Internal Roads in Ibadan North; 2.65-kilometre Abayomi Olagoke Akano-Raji Rasaki Road in Ibadan North-East; 2.5-kilometre Alakia-Isebo/Iyana Church Road in Egbeda; 1.8-kilometre Dandaru-Agbadagbudu Road in Ibadan North; one-kilometre Ikolaba/Omowale Kuye Estate Road in Ibadan North; 3.5-kilometre Ikolaba Main Road Network in Ibadan North; and two-kilometre Bodija Main Market Road in Ibadan North.
He also listed the Omi-Tuntun Ultra-Modern Market in Ido; Kajola Ultra-Modern Market in Ogbomoso South; reconstruction of Akesan Market in Oyo East; Iseyin/LAUTECH campus roads and associated infrastructure; 33KV electricity infrastructure and transformer projects in Iseyin and Itesiwaju; solar public lighting projects in parts of Ibadan North and other local government areas; as well as schools, culverts, drainage structures, markets and public buildings across several local governments.
The state government’s project records, he added, also showed projects completed in 2026, including the Ikolaba/Omowale Kuye Estate Road, Bodija Main Market Road, Ikolaba Main Road Network and the Oba Adeyemi-Mobolaje Road, among others.
“These are not the activities of ‘paralysed’ local governments,” Sangodoyin said, stressing that the projects had identifiable locations and beneficiaries.
“It is therefore important for SSACO and its writers to understand that criticism of government is legitimate, but criticism does not confer the licence to disregard verifiable facts, the commissioner said.
He challenged the Alli campaign organisation to substantiate its allegation by identifying the local government areas it considered paralysed, the specific functions it claimed had stopped, and projects allegedly abandoned because of the purported paralysis.
Sangodoyin also asked the opposition group to provide evidence supporting the allegation and explain how its claim could be reconciled with the numerous projects being executed and completed across the 33 local government areas.
He said generalised political statements could not substitute for evidence because Local government development is visible across Oyo State.
According to the commissioner, the documented projects span both urban and rural communities.
“From Ibadan to Ibarapa, Ogbomoso, Oyo, Iseyin, Saki, Ido, Egbeda, Lagelu, Ona-Ara, Atisbo, Iwajowa and other parts of the state, local government interventions have addressed practical community needs,” he said.
He said roads had been rehabilitated and constructed, culverts and bridges provided, markets developed and renovated, electricity infrastructure extended, public buildings and schools improved, while drainage infrastructure had been provided in areas affected by flooding.
He, however, stressed that the government was not claiming that every problem in every local government had been solved saying: “No responsible government would make such a claim.”
“The point is that the assertion that local governments have been ‘paralysed’ is inconsistent with the documented evidence of projects being undertaken and completed across the state.”
Sangodoyin said SSACO could disagree with Governor Seyi Makinde and criticise policies of the Oyo State Government, noting that such disagreements were part of democratic discourse, “but political criticism must be anchored in facts,” he said.
He urged the Alli campaign organisation to identify specific shortcomings where it believed the administration had failed, provide evidence where it alleged failure, and demonstrate the basis for its claim of paralysis.
“What cannot be accepted is the substitution of sweeping political rhetoric for facts that are readily verifiable on the ground,” he said.
The commissioner said residents of Oyo State could see the roads, bridges, markets, drainage facilities, electricity projects, public buildings and other infrastructure being delivered in their communities.
In Sangodoyin’s words: “The record speaks for itself.
“SSACO may have the right to criticise Governor Makinde, but it does not have the right to manufacture facts.”