11th July, 2014
Rt. Honourable Najeem Salaam, Speaker, Osun House of Assembly, has lamented the outrageous circumstances that loomed over the collapse of a school hall within the premises of the state-of-art facility of Ejigbo High school, saying statements credited to some political players that substandard materials were used was prejudicial and an act of sabotage.
In a statement issued by his media office, Speaker Salaam who hails from Ejigbo, noted that investigation was ongoing. The statement said the loud bang reportedly heard by the people on site before the collapse of the detached auditorium was political. He said other structures were still standing except for the school hall.
The Speaker noted that some opposition political actors, who appeared to be happy with the rubbles of the edifice, went on air to pass judgment on the material composition of the building.
Salaam then challenged those who insinuated on substandard building materials as the cause of collapse of the structure to present their empirical evidence or stop their ill-motivated politicking on the matter until the result of investigation is out, adding that, he personally monitored the work-in-progress and there was nothing suggesting that something was fishy and for a new building to be uprooted from the foundation, more information need to be processed. So, prejudice is needless.
Besides that, Salaam condemned the hate and threat speech of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Iyiola Omisore, against a lawmaker representing Atakunmosa East and West. Honourable Babatunde Festus Komolafe at Ifewara few days ago was threatened by Omisore who said he will deal with the lawmaker using soldiers.
“When we listened to Omisore governorship campaign at Ifewara, it is disappointing that he was busy threatening to sack Hon. Komolafe’s home and that he would unleash soldiers on him for daring to mobilize his constituents for the reelection of Gov. Rauf Aregbesola.”
The Speaker then stressed that he would forward the tape of the threat against the lawmaker to the security agencies for the safety of the legislator.
The action of opposition political actors was even more shocking to residents of Ejigbo who echoed the claim of the speaker. They claimed that other structures on the school premises were still standing. ” The building materials for this school is the same. I still do not understand why this hall will collapse and every other building is intact,” a worker at the site said.