Priscilla Ofunre, Ado-Ekiti
Eminent lawyer and founder, Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), has said the event leading to the collapse of the bridge linking Ado-Ekiti capital city with his university was an evidence that Ekiti has been grossly neglected by the Federal Government.
Describing Ekiti as the ‘most neglected’ state in the country, Babalola expressed sadness over the death of a man during the collapse of the bridge after a torrential downpour on Monday evening, saying the incident was a national disaster.
The bridge on Ureje along Ado-ABUAD-Ikare road was on Monday flooded by water and collapsed and a man who wanted to navigate the water got drowned and died in the process.
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Several commuters coming in and out of Ado-Ekiti capital city were stranded for several hours between 7pm on Monday till 12 noon on Tuesday after the bridge had collapsed.
Speaking with journalists at ABUAD, on Wednesday, Babalola said several efforts he made to the federal and state governments to rebuild the bridge on Ureje river were rebuffed, which, he said, led to the calamity.
Expressing his regrets, the legal luminary said that,”For the past nine years, I have been maintaining that road but this year after series of letters, Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) wrote to me informing that they have awarded the road to a contractor and I have been following the contractor day and night.
“What I know which is true is that, the contactor had done more damage to the road than helping us.
“I wrote about the bridge to all those concerned; Federal ministry of Works and copied the President.
“I also wrote letters to the state governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi because I knew that road was neglected by the contractor and the Federal Government.
“Indeed, Ekiti state is the most neglected state in this country. Look at the road between Ilesha and Ado-Ekiti, it was made over 20 years ago.
“This road from Ado-Ekiti to Ijan to Ode to Ikare to Lokoja was build before I was born over 100 years ago.
“That bridge which you saw was also build over 100 years ago, that narrow bridge. When I was in school, we used to trek from that place to Ogbese river in order to cut what we called prank cane to make chairs and wooden ceilings along that route.
“Nothing has been done to improve the bridge. I have been writing, phoning, sending text messages that that bridge will collapse anytime.
“I warned all of them, including the governor that it will collapse that something should be done.
“When it happened two days ago, I sent text messages to Fayemi that what I told you should not happen has happened.
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“I also got in touch with Minister of Works, who eventually phoned me that they were going to do something about the bridge.
“I sent messages to monarchs and others. In the afternoon, I got a text from Fayemi that some people will come the following day to work on it.
“Fashola told me they are moving there immediately. I went to the bridge and I saw them working there.
“My team of engineers have been there early in the morning. No heavy truck or vehicle should pass that place otherwise it will go down.
“What we need is a new bridge and a dual carriage road from Ado-Ekiti to the university, which is only 15 kilometers. I don’t know why the road has not been repaired.
“I hope now with what has happened, things will change. I went through Afao to Igbemo to Iluomoba to the university. It took me about one and half hours to get to the university on Tuesday instead of 15 minutes.
“Like I said, Ekiti is the most neglected state in this part of the world. Secondly, I protested in my usual way.
“Former President Obansanjo did little work on the road and you can see it has not been completed.
“Again, I was lawyer to Federal Government. Obasanjo again worked on it from Itawure to Ado-Ekiti, a dual carriage, since he left it is all forest,” he said.
Corroborating the level of neglected in Ekiti, Babalola said the road from Ado-Ekiti to Akure, Ondo State capital, is one of the worst roads in the country.
“What I will continue to do now is to continue to pile pressure on those responsible and in authority for us to have good infrastructures, because without good infrastructures, nobody can come to the university. You know we are suffering here”.
