The Osun State Government has dismissed an advertorial linking a failed road to the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke, insisting that the road was actually constructed during the tenure of former governor Gboyega Oyetola and not by the current government.
Reacting to the publication, which appeared in a national newspaper and portrayed the road as evidence of poor governance under Adeleke, the state government described the report as “fake news”, accusing critics of deliberately misleading the public ahead of the August 15 governorship election.
The controversial publication featured photographs of damaged roads and waste in Modakeke with the caption, “The face of bad governance; the dancer was a mistake. Osun people, let’s remove the round peg from the square hole,” and was reportedly sponsored by the New Hope for the Weak Foundation.
However, in a statement issued by the Permanent Secretary of the Osun State Ministry of Works, Bashiru Bello, the government maintained that the road shown in the publication is located at Mukoro, Ile-Ife, and was constructed under the administration of former Governor Oyetola.
“The bad road published on the front page of the newspaper today was constructed by the Oyetola administration, not the Adeleke government, and the road is located at Mukoro, Ile-Ife, not Modakeke,” Bello stated.
To support its claim, the state government said it had released the Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates of the road, urging members of the public to verify its exact location using Google Maps.
The government further argued that none of the roads currently being executed by the Adeleke administration had reached the stage of lane markings visible in the published photograph, insisting the image could not have originated from any of its ongoing projects.
“The road initiated by the Adeleke administration has not reached the level of lane marking shown in the published road. The publication is therefore simply fake news,” the statement added.
According to the government, the Adeleke administration has concentrated on rehabilitating and correcting defects in projects inherited from the previous administration rather than abandoning them.
It accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state of attempting to shift responsibility for defective infrastructure to the current government for political reasons.
“The Adeleke administration has been doing a lot of remediation and corrective work on several projects inherited from the Oyetola administration. The attempt of Osun APC to push its defects on the Adeleke government is therefore deceitful,” Bello said.
The government also encouraged residents to independently verify the facts, insisting that the road in question was delivered during Oyetola’s tenure.
The latest exchange comes amid rising political tension in Osun State as the ruling Accord Party and the opposition APC continue to trade accusations over governance, infrastructure and security ahead of the August 15 governorship election.
The development also follows recent allegations by Governor Adeleke that extrajudicial killings were taking place in the state. During a campaign rally, the governor appealed to President Bola Tinubu to ensure a free and fair election and intervene to stop the violence.
“President Bola Tinubu, something is happening in Osun that you have not moved to put an end to. They are killing our people. You are the President; you are the father for all of us. Osun has said they won’t allow rigging,” Adeleke said.
He further insisted that the people of Osun would resist any attempt to manipulate the outcome of the forthcoming governorship election.
