It’s my pleasure to address you, Sir, the Executive Governor of Oyo State, Governor Seyi Makinde. We commend you for immortalizing statesmen who have contributed to the development of the state.
But to immortalise former governor of Oyo State, Omololu Olunloyo, you announcedĀ at an interdenominational programme in his honourĀ that the great citadel of knowledge, The Polytechnic Ibadan, has been renamedĀ after him.
Your Excellency.Ā first and foremost, on behalf of the graduates of the great citadel of Knowledge, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, we hereby reject the renaming of the institution.
Truly, we do not have grudges against the former governor, but our institution should remain the Polytechnic Ibadan. It’s on record that the institution is the only polytechnic with the article “The”. It’s our pride.
It’s advisable that another monument should be renamed after the great man, not The Polytechnic Ibadan. The institution is our pride.
For the record, Gov Omololu Olunloyo spent just three months in office. He became Governor of Oyo State via an election massively rigged by the then National Party of Nigeria, NPN, led by Chief Meredith Adisa Akinloye as Chairman.
Our revered “The Polytechnic Ibadan” should not have been named after him.
Taoreed Abdullahi is a communication expert whoĀ graduated from the The Polytechnic, Ibadan.