Barrister Adesina Ogunlana, former chairman of Ikeja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association and convener of Citizens Rally against Oppression, has called for mass actions against Ogun and Lagos states to resist their plans to collect toll fees on Ikorodu-Ogijo-Sagamu, Epe-Ijebu-Ode and the Lagos-Ota-Abeokua roads.

Governor Dapo Abiodun, who spoke during Abeokuta Club during his investiture as honorary patron by the club at the weekend disclosed that the two states had discussed with President Muhammadu Buhari on taking over the ownership of the roads.

He said, “I and Sanwo-Olu met with the president to hand over those three roads to us, we sat down with the President and explained things to him.

“He (President Buhari) told us to put it in writing, we wrote a joint letter which has our two logos on it, we both signed it and I personally handed it over to Mr President, and a few weeks ago, the president handed over the road to us.

“What we intend to do is to commercialise these roads and turn it to a private-public-partnership and we have people that are waiting to enter a PPP with us so that they will fund the road, they will toll it and this would allow the people to move from Lagos to Abeokuta with ease.”

Condemning the plans by Abiodun and Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Ogunlana described the act by the governors as ‘inhuman’.

Urging the states’ residents to reject the proposal, Ogunlana said, “The arguments of both Lagos and Ogun state governments that the tolling to public-private partnership in the construction and rehabilitation of the three roads is an unwarranted basis to exploit the masses.

“The moves of both states’ governments to pass the burden of the N26 billion debt purportedly hanging on the state governments’ neck over the construction of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway to the masses in both Lagos and Ogun states.”