The controversy surrounding the joint ownership of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology(LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, resurfaced yesterday in Ibadan with the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, saying his Oyo State counterpart, Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala should be ignored over his recent comment in Ogbomosho that Oyo State had finally become the sole-owner of the institution.
Akala had on Monday during his re-electioneering campaign in Ogbomoso, his home-town told a jubilant crowd that Oyo State had become the sole owner of the 20-year-old university.
The two states had been at loggerheads over the ownership of the institution with Oyo State struggling for the sole-ownership while Osun, before the advent of Aregbesola administration insisted that the institution remains a joint heritage of the two states as provided by law establishing it.
In a bid to ensure that the university became a property of Oyo State, campuses of the institution had been established in other parts of Oyo State.
But speaking with journlists at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan during his visit to the institute, Aregbesola declared: “At best, the man should be a security officer, but, because of law, he finds himself in governorship position and he is undermining the very process that brought him into power. Or how do you explain that somebody would whimsically and unilaterally decide to claim of an institution jointly owned when the law that established it has not been abrogated?.
“What do you do when you see a mad man, you run away. He is not somebody to be worried about, when the right person whom I strongly believe will come very soon assumes office, we will know what to do,’’ he said.
He blamed journalists for celebrating what he called idiocy, saying “ journalists should be blamed for the problem of Governor Alao- Akala.”
On his visit to IITA, he disclosed that the state government was seeking the assistance of the institute in the area of agricultural development in Osun state, adding, for any government to succeed in the area of agriculture, such an institute was the way out.
He also disclosed that about 1,000 hectares of land has been acquired by the state government for the establishment of farm settlements while the existing settlements would be rehabilitated with necessary infrastructure such as roads, put in place.
He added that the state government was already in top negotiations with the management of Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) on how to procure 54 waggons that would be transporting finished goods from Lagos to Osun and farm produce from Osun to other neighbouring states like Kogi, Kwara and Abuja so as to reduce pressure on Lagos State and create an interchange of market.
| Posted: at | |
TRENDING GISTS 
Federal Govt Threatens To Deploy Military As Ex-Governor Yahaya Bello Snubs Court
VIDEO: Davido's Wife, Chioma Spotted At Husband's Concert In US
PHOTOS: Woman Allegedly Abducts 5Yr Old Child In Akwa Ibom
EFCC To Arraign Yahaya Bello, Nephew Over N80.2billion Money Laundering Today