The Oyo government said the decision to exclude Mr Makinde was politically motivated.
The Oyo State Government has accused the federal government of deliberately excluding Governor Seyi Makinde from the launching of the reconstruction and dualisation of the Ibadan-Ijebu-Ode Road.
Mr Makinde is the presidential candidate of the Allied People’s Movement seeking to challenge President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 presidential election.
In a statement, the Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Dotun Oyelade, said the decision was difficult to separate from the emerging political contest ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He said the road project was too important to the state and the wider South-west region to be reduced to a political event.
The ceremony was attended by Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, Minister of Works Dave Umahi, the APC governorship candidate in Oyo State, Sarafadeen Alli, and the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Rashidi Ladoja.
Mr Oyelade particularly rejected the explanation that Mr Makinde was not invited because he was on leave.
According to him, the state which has an acting governor in place, could have represented at the event, if it was invited.
He described the development as a “political jamboree” and said the Makinde administration would not be distracted by it.
“The course of 2027 is set, and no level of indecorum or desperation from whatever quarters will hold back the will of the people,” Mr Oyelade said.
The Ibadan-Ijebu-Ode Road is an important route connecting Oyo and Ogun states and providing a major link across the South-West.
The planned reconstruction and dualisation is expected to improve movement along the corridor, which is used by commuters and businesses travelling between the two states and other parts of the region.
The controversy, however, has shifted attention from the infrastructure project to the growing political rivalry ahead of 2027.
Mr Makinde, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is serving his second term as governor. The governor is running for president in the 2027 election through an alliance between the PDP and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), and he has been officially affirmed as the presidential candidate of the APM.
However, the APC is seeking to strengthen its political foothold in the state.
The Oyo government said the people of the state remained the ultimate stakeholders and would determine its political direction through the ballot.
The government did not provide independent evidence that the governor’s exclusion was specifically ordered for political reasons, but maintained that the circumstances surrounding the flag-off raised legitimate concerns about the political undertone of the event.
