Leaving Makinde Out of a Road Ceremony Was Petty Politics With a Public Cost
IBADAN, 25 August 2026 — Oyo State has protested the exclusion of Governor Seyi Makinde from the Federal Government's flag-off of the Ibadan–Ijebu-Ode road dualisation in Oluyole Local Government Area.
The ceremony included Works Minister David Umahi, Ogun Governor Dapo Abiodun, the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, and political figures from the All Progressives Congress. The Oyo government described the omission of its sitting governor as politics taken too far.
Protocol disputes can look trivial beside the condition of the road. This one matters because infrastructure already suffers from blurred responsibility. A public ceremony should tell citizens who is accountable for delivery. Turning it into party theatre makes that harder.
The project crosses governments as well as state lines
The Ibadan–Ijebu-Ode corridor links communities and commercial activity in Oyo and Ogun. The Federal Government is responsible for the project, but construction will affect traffic management, local access, drainage, land use and public safety inside both states.
That practical interdependence is why representation matters. Inviting Ogun's governor while excluding Oyo's does not change federal ownership of the road. It does create an avoidable impression that participation depends on party alignment rather than jurisdiction.
A governor's presence is not a condition for a contractor to work. It is, however, an opportunity to state the commitments of each level of government in public.
Ceremony must not replace project information
The road's economic promise is straightforward: better connectivity, shorter journeys and easier movement of goods. The information needed to test that promise is less visible.
Residents should be able to find the contract sum, total length, funding structure, contractor, work sections, completion target, compensation process and arrangements for maintaining access during construction. They should also know which agency will respond if work blocks a community road or worsens flooding.
Those details are more important than the guest list. Yet a politicised launch can crowd them out, leaving citizens with speeches and photographs instead of a delivery map.
Protocol has a practical purpose
It is tempting to describe invitations as etiquette for politicians. In a project crossing two states, protocol is also a coordination tool. The host governor's administration controls or influences local traffic agencies, emergency response, planning information, community relations and some of the roads that feed into the federal corridor. Bringing those institutions into the launch does not transfer ownership of the federal contract; it signals that the delivery chain has been connected.
Ogun Governor Dapo Abiodun's attendance was sensible because the road serves Ogun as well as Oyo. That makes Makinde's omission more conspicuous. The Works Ministry should be able to explain whether Oyo officials were engaged through another channel, whether an invitation failed or whether the governor was deliberately excluded. A factual answer would be more useful than another round of partisan accusation.
The principle should apply regardless of party. A federal minister from one party should coordinate with a governor from another. A state governor should acknowledge federal ownership when Abuja funds and manages the road. Citizens lose when each side treats cooperation as surrendering political credit.
The public needs one authoritative project record
Major road announcements often produce several versions of the same facts. A minister mentions one length, a contractor describes a work section, a state government discusses connecting roads and campaign accounts repeat the largest number available. Months later, it becomes difficult to determine whether a deadline referred to the whole project or only one phase.
The Ibadan–Ijebu-Ode dualisation should have a single online record maintained by the Works Ministry. The page should include the signed scope, maps, contractor and supervising consultant, funding source, start date, original completion date and approved variations. Monthly updates should identify completed drainage, earthworks, structures and paved kilometres rather than offer only a total percentage.
When the project changes, the record should preserve the old commitment and explain the revision. That history matters because a deadline can otherwise move without anyone accepting responsibility. It also protects contractors from political claims that ignore changes requested by government or unforeseen site conditions.
Communities need information before machinery arrives
Dualisation can improve a corridor while imposing serious local disruption during construction. Shops may lose direct access. Bus stops move. Dust and standing water affect homes. Pedestrians face faster traffic where safe crossings have not yet been built. Property acquisition and compensation can become sources of dispute.
Before work intensifies, affected communities should receive maps showing construction stages, diversions and access points. A grievance office should log complaints and publish resolution times. Compensation decisions should state the legal basis and valuation process. Safety information must reach people who do not follow ministry social-media accounts.
Oyo and Ogun authorities can help deliver that communication, but the federal project owner remains responsible for ensuring it happens. Coordination cannot mean passing difficult conversations to the states while Abuja keeps the commissioning credit.
Quality matters more than the speed of the first photographs
A rushed start can create early images of graders and flags without resolving drainage, utilities or design conflicts. Roads deteriorate quickly when water has no durable path away from the pavement. Dualisation can also move flooding from the carriageway into nearby communities if outlets and downstream capacity are ignored.
The published design should therefore explain drainage assumptions, bridge and culvert work, pedestrian protection, intersections and axle-load expectations. Independent material tests and safety audits should be released at defined stages. If the road is delivered in sections, each section should be usable and safe rather than merely counted as “substantially completed.”
The contractor's duty does not end when a ribbon is cut. Defects-liability periods, maintenance responsibility and performance standards should be visible to the public. A road that looks new for one rainy season but fails in the next is not value for money.
Political credit can be shared without blurring accountability
The Federal Government can say it funded and procured the work. Oyo and Ogun can describe their coordination, local-road connections and community support. Traditional institutions can help with consultation without becoming campaign endorsers. These roles are compatible when each claim is tied to a specific responsibility.
Shared credit does not mean shared blame for everything. If federal payments stall, the ministry should answer. If a state traffic agency fails to manage a diversion it accepted, the state should answer. If a contractor misses a milestone, the contract manager should record the reason and remedy. Clear roles make cooperation less politically threatening because participation does not require accepting another actor's failures.
The exclusion dispute can still produce a useful correction
Both governments have an opportunity to move beyond the guest list. The Works Ministry can convene and publish a joint coordination meeting. Oyo can identify the state infrastructure and community issues it wants addressed. Ogun can do the same. The three governments can then attach names and dates to the next actions.
If that happens, the protocol failure will have forced better transparency. If the argument remains at the level of insults and photographs, it will confirm that the ceremony mattered more to politicians than the information residents need.
Oyo should answer with transparency, not a rival spectacle
The state government is entitled to ask why its governor was omitted. Its strongest response would be to publish a coordination brief: what Oyo has been told about the project, which state agencies are involved and what unresolved issues remain.
The Works Ministry should likewise release its invitation and coordination process. If the omission was an administrative failure, it can be acknowledged. If it was deliberate, the ministry should explain how excluding the host-state executive improves delivery.
TalkTalkNigeria's view: roads are public assets, not campaign props
Voters will judge governments partly by the infrastructure they can use. Politicians therefore have an incentive to claim ownership of every road, bridge and ribbon. The answer is not to ban ceremonies. It is to make ceremonies subordinate to verifiable project data.
Every major flag-off should include a public project page with monthly photographs, payment milestones, revised deadlines and named contacts. All affected governments should be represented in the coordination structure even when their parties compete.
The Ibadan–Ijebu-Ode road will outlast this election cycle if it is properly built. Its launch should have reflected that longer public interest.
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Sources: Nigerian Tribune's report on Oyo State's protest; Nigerian Tribune's project flag-off report.
