Wednesday 19 September 2018

DAMILOLA ADEGBOYE’S DISAPPEARANCE AFTER FALLING INTO AN OPEN CANAL


 SPN CONDEMNS GOVERNOR AMOSUN FOR ENDANGERING LIVES DUE TO POOR STATE OF ROAD, DRAINAGE AND PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURES IN OGUN STATE
 
PRESS STATEMENT
 
The Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) Ifo Local  Government Ogun  State Chapter wishes to draw public attention and that of the Ogun State government led by Governor Ibikunle Amosun to the recent incident which occurred on Sunday 16th of September 2018 at Giwa in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State that led to the disappearance of a 14 year old girl named Damilola Adegboye after she fell into an open canal and was washed away by flood after a slight rainfall. We in the SPN sympathise with the family in this moment of great sorrow.
 
Damilola Adegboye was swept into an open canal while trying to cross the Giwa-Oke Aro road in front of Midland International School opposite NNPC petrol station. Due to the poor state of the road and drainage, flood had taken over the entire road just after a few minutes of rain. She had gone to run errands for her parents and was on her way back when the flood swept her into a canal just in front of the private school.
 
Three days after she was washed away, search parties which consist of her distraught family members, local fishermen and divers are still looking for Damilola but so far their efforts have yielded nothing. Unfortunately but through to type, neither the police nor any security agency has offered help to the family in their frantic search for Damilola Adegboye. We call on the police, security agencies and fire-fighters to assist the family in their search for Damilola Adegboye.
 
Also not a single elected government functionary has come to their aid. Uptill now, the Chairman of the Agbado-Oke Aro LCDA has not bothered to visit the distraught family neither has the lawmaker representing the constituency (Ifo 2 state constituency), Honourable Ganiyu Oyedeji, even acknowledged that such a tragedy struck in this constituency. This is nothing but failure on the part of the elected representatives which further highlight how rural communities in Ifo LGA and other similar communities in Ogun State have been abandoned by successive government and other anti-poor politicians in the state.
 
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that live has been lost at Giwa and other areas in the Ifo LGA due to the very terrible state of road, drainage and other physical infrastructures. Infact on the very day Damilola was washed away, a body of a young boy was recovered from a river by a search party looking for Damilola. This shows that the extent of tragedy happening in Ogun State rural communities on account of poor conditions of public infrastructures but which are underreported thus allowing the Governor Amosun government to carry on as if nothing is amiss. We put the blame for this tragedy on the Governor Ibikunle Amosun-led government. We demand immediate proactive steps by the government to fix all bad spots on the roads, complete construction of on-going projects littering the local government and ensure that our roads are safe for our children.
 
The Giwa-Oke Aro axis is at the moment a danger-prone area with a road which is not in good condition. The ongoing construction of the bridge by the government which has progressed at snail-speed for the past three and a half years now has further contributed to the bad condition of the road. The abandonment of the project has caused huge setback in communities like Lambe, Matogun, Koye, Maidan, Legun and others thereby causing loss of lives and properties. On the day that Damilola was swept away by flood, commuters were stranded for hours because the road leading into the community, just around the abandoned bridge at Giwa, was submerged by flood. It is not lack of funds that has led to the abandonment of this project. Rather it is greed and avarice of the Ibikunle Amosun-led government which favours the highly-corrupt contract system for its road construction instead of mobilising the Ministry of Works which can do more projects efficiently at a far cheaper cost.
 
 
 
Signed 
                                                                          
AYOMIDE E AJAKAYE                                  MALLAM YUSUF KAZEEM
CHAIR                                                                  SECRETARY
08064876421                                                     07068476258
 

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