Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has commended Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party, LP, for paying him a visit.
Obi, alongside some of his aides, visited Makinde on Monday morning, Jan. 29, to commiserate with the state after an explosion rocked Ibadan.
Makinde expressed appreciation to Obi for making time to visit him in Ibadan and not allowing political affiliation to supersede humanity.
Makinde said: “I should use this opportunity on behalf of the good people of Oyo state, thank His Excellency, Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra state and also the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last election.
“I thank you because politics didn’t seep into this. You came to commiserate with us over the explosion. Actually, the investigation is still ongoing, it was simply illegal miners storing explosives in an environment where they shouldn’t be, a place where it’s meant for people to live, it’s not a mining site.
“So, all the lapses that allowed such to happen are being looked into.
Makinde then stated that his own party’s presidential candidate has yet to reach out to him despite being in the same party.
Makinde said: “I’m particularly grateful because the president called me, we have three musketeers that went for that election.
“The president has reached out to me, you have reached out to me, but my own party candidate, not even a call or text message, I mean I’m saying this openly so that our leaders would know that, yeah, you have time for politics, you have time for governance, and you have time for humanity, so, we want to say thank you so much, we appreciate this visit.”
In his remarks, Peter Obi commiserated with Governor Makinde and the people of Oyo state over the devastating explosion that rocked Ibadan.
The former governor of Anambra state equally sent condolences to victims and families of those who lost their lives to the tragic blast, while praying to God to comfort the bereaved families.
Obi equally commended Governor Makinde, for rising up swiftly and responsively to curtail the situation and showing what he said governance should be all about.
Obi said: “It is necessary that when things like what happened here in Ibadan happens, and the government responds in a manner government should respond, that everybody come to participate and commend them for doing the right thing and that we all do the right thing.”
Speaking on the need to cut down on the cost of governance to preserve resources to address other critical areas requiring urgent attention, Obi said: “It’s a matter of sacrifice, elections are over, governance is the key thing and what is required is for me, in particular, is that we need to cut the cost of governance, especially at the federal level.”
Obi reiterated the need to prioritize critical areas such as education, health and pulling people out of poverty.