Former Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, has challenged Governor Dapo Abiodun’s claim of having “rescued” the President Muhammadu Buhari Estate in Abeokuta from forfeiture, following legal action instituted by the project’s contractor over non-payment.

Amosun described the claim as a distortion of the estate’s history, insisting that the project was already substantially completed before the present administration assumed office in 2019.

In a statement titled, “The Rescue of PMB Estate by Gov Dapo Abiodun: The Limit of Falsehood,” issued on Monday by his media office and made available to journalists, Amosun said the claim “could not be farther from the truth.”

He said the estate’s infrastructure contract, valued at about N3.5bn, had been fully mobilised and was approximately 95 per cent complete before the end of his administration.

According to the statement, the estate was developed on approximately 500 hectares of acquired land along the Abeokuta-Sagamu Expressway.

About 170 hectares constituted the master-planned first phase, while approximately 50 hectares were developed as the pilot scheme.

It said the estate was conceived as a Three Arms residential zone for members of the executive, legislature and judiciary.

The statement added that the new Ogun State Judicial Complex, located opposite the estate, was designed to complement the judges’ quarters, while members of the executive and legislature were expected to reside within the estate.

Amosun’s media office said it had refrained from responding to what it described as repeated attempts by the Abiodun administration to rewrite the history of projects executed by his predecessor.

However, it said the latest claims about the PMB Estate warranted a response because they allegedly went beyond political disagreement to an attack on Amosun’s personal integrity.

“We did not respond, not because the allegations possessed merit, nor because their authors had uncovered anything capable of unsettling our record.

“We remained silent because we considered the continuing peace, dignity and stability of our dear state more important than exchanging words with those who appear to require our name as an explanation for their own stewardship,” the statement said.

It argued that “governance cannot remain a perpetual press conference about one’s predecessor,” adding that every administration must eventually be judged by its own record.

“At some point, excuses expire, propaganda becomes threadbare, and every administration must stand before the people on the strength—or weakness—of its own record,” it said.

According to the media office, virtually all the infrastructure listed by the Abiodun administration had been completed under the Amosun administration and inaugurated as part of Ogun State’s 40th anniversary celebrations by former President Muhammadu Buhari on February 3, 2016.

“These included a network of 43 roads, already named after some of the founding fathers of the state, with street lighting, electricity grid, water distribution network, drainage networks, central sewage system, gas supply lines and fibre optic cable ducts.

“In addition, there was a fully developed master plan with commercial, multi-residential, school districts and other locations properly delineated in the 170-hectare layout,” the statement said.

It added that, contrary to the suggestion that the estate was largely undeveloped, infrastructure within the pilot area had reached approximately 95 per cent completion by May 2019.

“This is not conjecture. It is verifiable and documented in the formal handover notes of the supervising ministry,” it said.

The media office said the infrastructure contract was valued at approximately N3.5bn and that the contractor, ZCC, had been fully mobilised.

“More importantly, sufficient funding was available against the outstanding works to enable the contractor to complete the project,” it said.

Questioning the governor’s claim that the project had almost stalled and faced forfeiture through litigation, Amosun asked: “If the contractor had been fully mobilised, the infrastructure was already approximately 95 per cent complete, and sufficient funds remained available for the outstanding work, who then took the government to court and threatened seizure/forfeiture, and for what reason?”

The former governor said the question was particularly important because the current narrative referred to a legal dispute arising from unpaid obligations to the contractor and an alleged threat of forfeiture.

He said the government should explain when and how the dispute arose, the sums allegedly outstanding and how a contractor that had been adequately mobilised became the basis of an existential threat to the estate.

Amosun also cited the estate’s commissioning in 2016 as evidence that substantial infrastructure had already been completed before he left office.

“In 2016, when Ogun State marked the 40th anniversary of its creation, activities were held at the estate. President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the estate and drove round the tarred roads with all the street lights on.

“He was also hosted to a state banquet at the so-called abandoned estate. A location without roads, electricity, drainage, access, central water and sewage system and substantial infrastructure could hardly have hosted such major events,” he said.

The media office also raised concerns about subscribers to the estate, particularly Nigerians in the diaspora, who it said had certificates of occupancy, development approvals and other relevant documents but could no longer access their land.

“A significant proportion of these purchasers were reportedly Nigerians in the diaspora. What has happened to them? Some lawful allottees now face difficulties accessing, possessing or developing plots they legitimately acquired.

“The government must explain to the public what new services it added to the project that had not been done before. Is it the road network, electricity, drainage, access, sewage system or what precisely?”

It also called for a comprehensive account of the status of the entire 500-hectare estate.

“If the estate has genuinely been ‘rescued,’ the public deserves a comprehensive account of the condition of the entire 500 hectares.

“How much of the land remains intact? How much has been allocated? How much has been developed? How much has been redesignated? How much, if any, has been encroached upon or become the subject of dispute?

“These questions are essential because rescuing a public asset must mean securing and protecting it in its entirety, not merely developing one portion, commissioning a cluster of houses and proclaiming victory while leaving the fate of hundreds of hectares unexplained.”

The statement further alleged that the 108-unit housing project being celebrated by Abiodun, “good as it is,” occupies less than one hectare of the 50 hectares for which infrastructure had been provided under the Amosun administration.

It also alleged that the project sits on land originally designated for a primary school.

The statement added that the Access Bank Training School, conceived under the Amosun administration and for which the bank had already been allocated and paid for land at the Abeokuta City Centre beside the GTBank Training School building, was now being constructed in a zone designated for the executive arm of government, including commissioners’ quarters.

The statement said this “clearly has made nonsense of the Three Arms Zone and indeed the entire master plan.”

Concluding, Amosun’s media office said, “The record is clear: the President Muhammadu Buhari Estate had already been conceived, acquired, master-planned, funded, substantially developed and inaugurated before the present administration assumed office.

“What is the status of the existing allottees whose plots and titles predated the present administration? And what has become of the remaining hundreds of hectares that constitute the greater part of the estate?

“Until these questions are answered fully, factually and transparently, the claim that Governor Dapo Abiodun ‘rescued’ the President Muhammadu Buhari Estate will remain less a faithful account of history than a political narrative deliberately constructed upon a false premise.”

Recall that Abiodun, according to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Kayode Akinmade, was said to have rescued the PMB Estate from possible forfeiture and transformed the reportedly stalled project into a 108-unit modern residential community.

The statement added that the estate is scheduled for inauguration today, Tuesday, August 18, by the First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu. (Punch)