A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Human Rights Activist, Chief Adeniyi Akintola has disagreed with statements recently made by his colleague, Femi Falana (SAN) about the achievements and performance of the Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi in the last six years.

It would be recalled that two weeks ago, CEOAfrica reported that Falana, also a Human Right Activist, while delivering a lecture at the Dominican University Ibadan on the 7th of June, 2017, described the administration of Governor Ajimobi as a total failure. The Senior Advocate also condemned the policies of Ajimobi on education, stating that the Governor has failed to provide qualitative education in the state.

However, Chief Akintola, during an interview with CEOAfrica in Ibadan, disagreed with the claims and opinion of his learned colleague, stating that Falana’s assessment of Ajimobi’s governance was myopic and prejudiced.

Chief Akintola said “Femi Falana is my brother and I have tremendous respect for him but I disagree with his statement about Ajimobi. If he (Falana) casts his mind back to what obtained in Oyo State in the past, in fact, he will award Ajimobi a gold medal.

“Aside from restoring peace and security in the state, there have been a lot of infrastructural developments. Ajimobi didn’t limit these developments to the state capital. He expanded the frontiers. He took infrastructural developments to Oyo, Ogbomosho, Iseyin and many other parts of the state.

“So, for anybody to access the man without giving him any due credit is quite uncharitable. Gov. Ajimobi has done tremendously well compared to the past administrations,” Chief Akintola emphasized.

While enumerating the root cause of the challenges facing Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Chief Akintola who is a member of the governing council of the school stated that Falana is not in the best position to blame the situation of the school on Oyo state government because he has no idea of the intricacies of the school’s politics.

He explained that LAUTECH is jointly owned by Oyo and Osun States, however, Osun state has fallen behind in the funding of the school, leaving the responsibility to Oyo state to bear alone. He said “Osun state has not been able to meet up with funding the institution, yet it is funding its own University. So what right has Falana to question Oyo’s establishment of a University. He should also question Osun state for funding a University while leaving LAUTECH to suffer.”  

Reacting to Falana’s statement that LAUTECH has become a glorified Secondary School, Chief Akintola said “LAUTECH is not a glorified secondary school, it is an internationally recognised University that has the best products who do Nigeria proud.”