Ibadan Explosion: Makinde Criticizes Atiku, Accuses Him of Lack of Empathy and Sensitivity

Governor Seyi Makinde and Atiku Abubakar...CONTINUE READING>>>

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, criticized former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Monday for not expressing condolences to the state following the Ibadan explosion.

The governor spoke when former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi visited him to commiserate with him on the explosion that occurred in Ibadan.

Makinde said Atiku lacked empathy and sensitivity for failing to condole with the state, saying that it was “insensitive” for him not to offer any condolences or even acknowledge the tragedy.

According to him, Atiku’s silence sent a troubling message about his character and judgment.

Makinde also called for a cut in the cost of governance at the federal level as necessary sacrifice to move the country forward.

Makinde said of the three major presidential candidates in the 2023 election, President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peter Obi of Labor Party (LP) had both reached out to commiserate with him and the people of Oyo state except Abubakar of the PDP.

“All of us are now involved and all of us should work hard and make the necessary sacrifice to see that we turn around the situation and that is why it is necessary when things that what happened here happened, and the government responding in a manner government should respond and everybody comes to participate and commend them for doing the right thing.

“It is a matter of sacrifice, today, elections are over, governance is the key thing and what is required for me, is to cut down on the cost of governance, especially at the federal level, it is unacceptable the way it is going, we need to prioritise critical areas such as education, health and pulling people out of poverty,” he said.

Makinde expressed appreciation to Obi for making out time to visit him in Ibadan and not allowing political affiliation to supersede humanity.

He regretted that it was his own party’s presidential candidate that had yet to reach out to him despite being in the same party.

“I should use this opportunity on behalf of the good people of Oyo state, thank His Excellency, Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra state and also the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last election.

“I thank you because politics didn’t sip into this, you came to commiserate with us over the explosion. Actually, investigation is still going on, it was simply illegal miners storing explosives in an environment where they shouldn’t be, a place where where it’s meant for people to live, it’s not a mining site,” he stated.