Untold Story Of Tinubu’s Honour At ABUAD Convocation

The seventh convocation ceremony of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) on October 21 has come and gone.

The high point of the occasion, no doubt, was the conferment of honorary doctoral degrees on All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar and the Obi of Onitsha, His Royal Majesty, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe and Professor Anthony Olusegun Adegbulugbe.

However, the untold story of the event was the home truth Asiwaju Tinubu told his host, Chief Afe Babalola, Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and other dignitaries in respect of the plan to build an airport in Ado-Ekiti; a plan that the state has been working on for years leading to the inauguration of an eight-man committee to oversee its construction.

With the project failing to materialise under the administration of former Governor Ayodele Fayose, Governor Fayemi has sought to continue the push, allegedly on the promptings of Chief Afe Babalola, who feels a need for the airport because of his university, while successive governors have not been able to say no to it because of the enormous respect they have for the influential lawyer.

But speaking at the convocation ceremony on Monday, Tinubu told the audience that there is clearly no need for an airport in Ado-Ekiti, and building one in the city would amount to a waste of the state’s scarce resources.

A functional airport in Akure, the capital of neighbouring Ondo State, he said, will fulfill the transportation needs of  residents of Ekiti state  as well as visitors to the state

Tinubu added that what Fayemi and well-meaning Ekiti indigenes should do is to push for the fixing of the Akure-Ado-Ekiti Road because an airport in Akure will effectively serve both states.

Not a few people were dumbfounded by the APC chieftain’s forthrightness in the presence of Chief Babalola, Governor Fayemi and even Osun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola, whose predecessor, Rauf Aregbeshola, mooted the idea of the state building an airport, not minding its parlous financial situation.