Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has condemned his administration’s critics over road infrastructure, declaring that his government has constructed more roads than the two previous administrations of Senators Ibikunle Amosun and Gbenga Daniel put together while also branding his detractors as “barking dogs.”
Abiodun has in recent months been a victim of sustained criticism on social media over the deplorable condition of roads across several parts of the state, with some commentators branding Ogun the “headquarters of bad roads” in Nigeria, particularly communities bordering Lagos State which have been hardest hit.
The criticisms became intense fresh following the recent detention of Pastor Kayode Olawoye, an activist cleric who had repeatedly posted videos exposing the state of roads in Ogun. Olawoye and two others were released on Tuesday by the Department of State Services (DSS) after widespread public outcry and condemnation from rights groups, including Amnesty International, which described his arrest as unlawful and an abuse of human rights.
While speaking on Tuesday at the commissioning of the 3.5-kilometre Laderin–Prof. Wole Soyinka Train Station Road in Abeokuta, the governor brushed aside the growing backlash, insisting his record speaks louder than online attacks.
“We are a very deliberate administration. We will not pay attention to any barking dog. Like they say, nobody throws stones at unripe fruits,” Abiodun said.
“Anybody that decides to attack us on social media, we appreciate the fact that it is because of how intimidating this administration is. We have no response for them. I will respond by commissioning roads every week for the next two months.”
The governor said his administration had, within six years, constructed no fewer than 1,600 kilometres of roads, a figure he said surpasses the combined road projects of the two administrations before him.
“In the last six years, my administration has constructed, at the minimum, 1,600 kilometres of roads, and that is not a joke. I make bold to say, at the risk of sounding immodest, that this is more roads than the two administrations before me constructed put together. They can come and contradict me because facts and figures don’t lie,” he declared in a challenge to Senators Gbenga Daniel and Ibikunle Amosun who respectively governed the state from 2003 to 2011 and 2011 to 2019.
Abiodun added that at least 20 additional roads are currently lined up for commissioning across the three senatorial districts of the state.
On the newly commissioned Laderin road, the governor argued that impact, not length, should be the true measure of success.
“It is not about the length of the road, but the complementary and impactful service it provides to the people,” he said.
The governor’s remarks come amid growing debate over infrastructure delivery in Ogun and renewed calls from civil society groups for the government to prioritise rehabilitation of failing roads across the state.
