Ibadan Stadium

By Taiwo Adisa

Some APC commentators have raised issues about the remodeled Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba, Ibadan, which was unveiled on Wednesday, September 1, 2021. They said that the Stadium was waterlogged and that the amount spent on the project at N5.3bn was huge. To start with, such APC members should be ashamed to run their watery commentaries. That party was in power for eight years in Oyo State, during which the Stadium came down to its worst state, to the extent that our darling 3SC had to relocate to Ijebu Ode to play their matches because of lack of suitable pitch in Ibadan.

Let us tell them that a Stadium getting waterlogged due to torrential rainfall or as a result of snow fall is not strange. Stadia across England and elsewhere in Europe and America have had matches suspended due to waterlogged pitches. And to think of it, Ibadan had been witnessing daily heavy rainfall for more than a week before the match. But the rain did not stop the match because less than a quarter of the pitch was affected.

As for the amount spent on the Stadium, note that the sum covers the entire Stadium complex- the main bowl and the indoor sports section, the mtipurpise gymnasium etc, four practicing pitches as well as remodelling of Olubadan Stadium, Ibadan, Soun Stadium Ogbomoso, Durbar Stadium, Oyo, and the stadium in Saki, Igboora, indeed all geopolitical zones of the state.

What Gov Makinde is doing is a massive overhaul of sporting facilities across the state, away from the tokenistic thinking in the APC that would have yielded only viewing centres. You can’t compare the world class Lekan Salami, which has already secured NFF and CAF certification to mickey mouse viewing centres the APC planned to construct.

*Taiwo Adisa is the Chief Press Secretary to the Oyo State Governor