Flood: Alhaji Idowu Street and Environs Groan

Barely two years after the commissioning of Oke and Alhaji Idowu streets under the Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode 114 local government road projects in Alimosho LCDA, residents are worried as the streets and the environs are on the verge of submerging on account of the flood if urgent actions are not taken.
According to an elderly man, a resident of Alhaji Idowu Street who pleaded anonymity, the environment has become life-threatening at the slightest rain due to what he referred to as a shoddy job done during the ongoing construction of the roads. He said the drainages were not properly channelled and had resulted in blockages thereby causing great flooding just a few weeks after commissioning. He claimed the situation degenerated as a result of the ongoing compensation purported to be construction.

A youth coordinator in the community, Honourable Cocoray, a member of the ruling political party, the APC, lamented that he has continually been subjected to maltreatment within the party for his choice of always standing on the path of truth and requesting for things to be done appropriately. He took us around the community expressing his displeasures on the state of the environment and corroborated the earlier statement that the matter was made worse by the awarding of the construction of Lambe Kudaisi street to a different contractor from the contractor that constructed Oke and Alhaji Idowu streets who exhibited knowledge of the perennial flooding of the environment but rather it was used to compensate party leaders.
He said the former contractor had channeled the drains towards the canal during his job but could not achieve much since Lambe Kudaisi was not part of his contract, narrating that with the appeal from the community he was able to extend his job into the street with about fifty meters just to create smooth transition when the contract for the street would be awarded but that was not achieved by the new contractor due to lack of knowledge of the terrain. He alleged that the community’s safety was traded for compensation as he further reiterated that news has it that the supposed new contractor was even dead as the situation has plunged them into a state of limbo.

While taking The Alimosho Mail round, he showed us a portion of the drainage channel where the current contractor had blocked the drains, rather than evacuation, which brought untold hardship to the community and the subsequent revolt. Honourable Gbadamosi Cocoray said what they got in return was an order from the local government chairman Hon. Sulaiman Jelili to be arrested by the police alleging that they were thugs fighting against the party leadership in the community but the order was frustrated by the entire community who demanded the police to arrest them all. He said the situation was saved by the timely intervention and wisdom of the DPO who also saw the situation and ordered the drainages open. He further noted that several appeals to the local government to help with the evacuation of the blocked drainage have proved abortive while the lives of the residents have been exposed to danger by the ugly development.
Efforts to get comments from the local government chairman were unsuccessful as he was out of the country for the Muslim pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. The council’s engineer rebuffed request for comments noting that he could only speak with authorization from the chairman. On the other hand, the information officer of the council, Mr Afolabi Bakare was able to give a brief account of the issue noting that the challenge of the community was beyond the local government. He, however,, said that the assessment had been made and report submitted to the appropriate quarters at the state secretariat Alausa for further action. He pleaded for patience from the community while hoping for a timely intervention.

For now the residents of the community and users of Jimoh Street might need to brace up for the challenge pending action from Alausa while the community continues to appeal to the governor to urgently come to their aid and save lives and properties and by extension, extending the lifespan of the newly constructed Oke and Alhaji Idowu streets.