THE much trampled people of Oyo  State woke up on a certain morning to the saddening report that some disgruntled members of the opposition in the state had connived the night before to destroy the precious and (in) famous Mokola flyover.

Naturally, for a city that has been a political capital of the most sophisticated south west of Nigeria for close to a century now, but which was only provided such an architectural feat a few months ago, there was a sense of outrage.

Unfortunately as usual, the government of Alhaji Abiola Ajimobi, once again, seized the opportunity of an unfortunate incident to score cheap political point as well as cover up a shame that will accompany top hierarchy of the regime long after they would have been ignobly kicked out of office.

On that innocent morning, Special Assistant to Governor Ajimobii on Media, Festus Adedayo, through a press statement entitled: “Ibadan Flyover barrier demolished” accused the opposition of having made real, an earlier threat to pull down the barrier. He added that government was in receipt of security report that some political thugs were being commissioned by the opposition to demolish the flyover.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/09/mokola-flyover-ajimobis-spin-doctors-exposed/#sthash.iHJaB4Z8.dpuf

IBADAN SHOPRITE UPDATE: Management denies low patronage

The management of popular retail mega-store, Shoprite at Heritage Cocoa Mall, on Oba Adebimpe Road, Dugbe, Ibadan, Oyo State, has denied reports that the recently opened mall is hit by low patronage.

Reacting to the story, the Branch Manager, who didn’t disclose his name, told ENCOMIUM Weekly that there was no time the supermarket experienced poor sales since it started operation five-months ago.

He stated, “I’m not expected to talk to you but I’m doing this to correct the impression. The place was opened in June, and I want to tell you so far, it has been good. There was nothing like low patronage. May be because you came at the wrong time.

“That’s all. I won’t say more than that. If you want to know whether people patronize us or not, come on a weekend. Thank you.”

Meanwhile, the situation of one of the biggest mega-stores in Africa remained the same when ENCOMIUM Weekly’s correspondent visited there on Wednesday, October 2, 2013.

Apart from the few customers seen shopping, the demand for the most patronized commodity, freshly baked bread, was low. No regular queue was observed at that section of the mall before we left around 5pm.    Contrary to the branch manager’s claims that the peak of their activities fall on weekends, the situation is relatively the same, with few more customers seen coming in and out of the mall. Our correspondent was there on Saturday, October 5, 2013 to survey the market, but the rate of patronage was still low compared to what is being experienced in any other outlets in Lagos where families thronged, especially on weekends, for shopping.

A male staff, who also demanded anonymity, admitted unstable market, adding, “It’s a normal thing you experience when you run this type of business in this kind of environment. The patronage is irregular. At times, we record high sales, while some times, low. While we have most patronize commodities, we also have the ones the demands are very low. So, it’s difficult to say low patronage hit Shoprite.”