By Toheeb Babalola
In his first tenure in office as governor of the Pacesetter State, Engr Seyi Makinde had expended over N5 billion to renovate and upgrade the famous Lekan Salami Sporting Complex at Adamasingba in Ibadan North West Local Government Area of the state to a global standard.
The decision of the state government to splash billions of taxpayers’ money to bring the almost dilapidated sports arena back to reckoning and world standard was to boost the economy of the state and to take the youths off the streets by promoting sports and related activities.
The multi-billion naira project comprises the renovation of the main bowl and the tennis court; and the construction of additional sporting courts within the stadium.
The Flags-Off of the project was with fanfare, with stakeholders heaving a sigh of relief that at last, a ‘Daniel had come to judgment’ in the sports sector of the state.
Stakeholders in the sports sector and indeed, residents of the state were looking forward to making use of the renovated stadium for the purpose for which Governor Makinde expended so much money, but alas, I can report exclusively that two years after the commissioning of the Lekan Salami Sporting Complex, which some critics insisted was not yet completed as at the time of commissioning had been abandoned, while all renovated sporting facilities within the complex had become defecation center for the public and visitors to the stadium.
My on-the-spot-assssement visit to the sports complex on Thursday, August 24, 2023, revealed that the renovated building at the Handball Court, near the fourth gate of the stadium, is been an eyesore, as it was flooded with excreta and nobody would enter the building without covering his or her nostrils.
In spite of the fact that the two-story buildings have been painted, they still show signs that they are still under construction and have been abandoned by the state government, a development which emboldened miscreants and visitors to the stadium to turn it into a defecation center with reckless abandon. Those who have turned the edifice into their convenience center freely ‘decorated’ the place with human excreta which is in different stages of condition.
Not only that, some of the office spaces in the newly constructed Tennis Court beside the Sports Council building, have been repainted and destroyed with human feaces by unknown perpetrators.
Responding to me after ordering his subordinate to confirm my claims and allegation of abandonment of the sports facility, the Director of Media and Publicity of the Oyo State Sports Council, Mr. Tunde Ajibike, declined to react, stating that he was not authorized, as a civil servant to talk on the issue. He said the only person authorized to make any comment is the Chairman of the council, who he said was not around to react to media inquiries or to our findings
Ajibike said, “I am a civil servant, and I don’t have the authority to talk to you. My Chairman, who can talk to you is not around to speak on the situation.”
Meanwhile, the Oyo State government is planning ahead to host the 2026 National Sports Festival, NSF, with Lekan Salami Sporting Complex, earmarked to play a significant role in the hosting if and when the state bagged the hosting rights.
It is my belief that Governor Makinde had lofty ideas about sports development in Oyo State before embarking on the renovation of the Lekan Salami Stadium, as espoused in his Omititun 2.0 Agenda. We hope that the governor will rise to the occasion to do the needful and bring the Lekan Salami Stadium back to its rightful glorious place in the comity of stadia in the country.
