Video shows Abiodun saying FG refused to handover three federal roads to Ogun, Lagos

Contrary to claims by the government of Ogun State that the report about federal government refusing to hand over three federal roads to Ogun and Lagos states is fake, a video has confirmed that Gov Dapo Abiodun of Ogun actually disclosed that the Presidency said it would rather partner with the two states in repairing the roads, instead of transferring them to Ogun and Lagos.

African Advocate reported on Friday that Plans by the Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun and his Lagos State counterpart, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to commercialise the Ikorodu-Sagamu, Epe-Ijebu-Ode and Lagos-Abeokuta roads, by taking them over from the Federal Government seem to have suffered a setback as the Presidency did not agree to the proposal. 

But the Ogun government, through the Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Dapo Abiodun, Kunle Somorin, on Saturday, dismissed claims that the federal government had rejected the offer made by it and the Lagos State government to repair and toll the three federal roads linking the two states.

Recall that Abiodun had hinted in September that he and Sanwo-Olu had concluded plans to take over the three federal roads from the federal government.  

According to the video, the Governor, during a statutory meeting of Ogun State Council of Obas on Thursday said "Governor Sanwo-Olu and I actually put pen on paper and wrote a joint letter to the Federal Government and demanded that these roads be handed over to us, so that we can commercialize them."

He, however, made known the response of the Federal Government when he said, "We have since gotten a response from the Federal Government asking us that, rather than to transfer these roads to us, they want to partner with us."

This is an attestation that the Federal Government did not subscribe to the request of the two governors, who have in a joint letter requested that the three roads be handed over to them for repairs and tolling. 

From Gov Abiodun's statement in the video, what the two governors requested for was outright take over of those roads from the Federal Government and not partnership, which the Presidency did not grant.

The video contradicts the statement credited to Somorin that the news was fake or that it was reported by some unpatriotic media.

Watch the video below: