Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli, the senator representing Oyo South senatorial district, on Monday accused Governor Seyi Makinde of squandering N1.5 billion on the ceremonial installation of three Ibadan chiefs as beaded-crown monarchs.

Mr Alli, who is seeking the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress in Oyo and Ekarun Balogun of Ibadanland, described the inauguration ceremony as a ‘theatrical display’.

“Everywhere I go, people are saying I received a crown. But like the former governor Abiola Ajimobi would say, ‘You don’t cut someone’s head in his absence’. You elderly people also know that you don’t crown a person in his absence. It should be obvious that what they did the other day was mere theatrical display,” the lawmaker said at a strategic stakeholders meeting held in Saki.

“You said you wanted to crown three people, but you are only targeting one person. The three chiefs have reasons for their absence. Yet, you did not reschedule the event. But because of your extravagant spending, you now spent N1.5 billion wastefully,” Mr Alli alleged.

The senator stated that Mr Makinde had been seeking ways to spend the funds for the ceremony, despite the chiefs’ earlier request for a deferment due to their non-availability.

“They were looking for means to spend that money. But it is not surprising to us. The people pushing the governor are the problem, because there’s no personal clash between us (himself and the governor),” he said.

In his further address at the stakeholders meeting, if elected governor, Mr Alli vowed to restore local government autonomy, consolidate past legacies and create at least one agro-processing industry across the 33 local government areas in the state.

“If I get your support, local government autonomy will be restored. Even though I have not come to read out my blueprint, this is one of our major concerns. Within the first two months as a governor by God’s grace, we would ensure that every local government in Oyo state has at least one agro-processing industry,” Mr Alli said.

Commenting on zoning and the demand for power shift to the Oke-Ogun axis in the state, the senator noted that power rotation cannot be achieved without an Ibadan-born sitting governor.

“If we want a governor from the Oke-Ogun axis, an Ibadan indigene has to be in the seat as the governor. There must be a deliberate policy to then zone,” he noted.

Earlier in April, the Oyo government, citing sections 20 sub-sections I and IV of the Chiefs Law of Oyo State (2000), elevated the trio of Akeem Adewoyin, Kola Babalola and Mr Alli to the position of monarchs, despite their absence at the ceremony held at Mapo Hall Ground in Ibadan.