Governor Dapo Abiodun has slammed his critics, calling them barking dogs.

Disclosing this at the commissioning of a 3.5-kilometre Laderin-Prof Wole Soyinka, Train Station Road in Abeokuta, on Tuesday, said he would only respond with a weekly road inauguration in the next two months.

“We are a very deliberate administration. We will not pay attention to any barking dog. Like they say, nobody throws stones at unripe fruit,” Mr Abiodun said. “So, anybody who decides to attack us on social media, we appreciate the fact that it is because of how intimidating this administration is. So, we have no response for them. I will respond to them by commissioning roads every week for the next two months.”

Mr Abiodun stated that he had constructed about 1,600 kilometres of roads since assuming office in May 2019.

“In the last six years, my administration has constructed, at a minimum, 1,600 kilometres of roads, and that is not a joke. Then, I make bold to say that, at the risk of sounding immodest, that’s more roads than the two administrations before me constructed,” the Ogun governor explained. “They can come and contradict me because facts and figures don’t lie. As we speak, we have at least 20 roads ready for commissioning across the three senatorial districts.”

In July 2024, the chairman of the Elders Council of Idomila Community, Ijebu North East LGA, Kunle Sanni, during a peaceful protest by residents, told journalists that the deplorable roads in their domain have caused avoidable accidents and deaths, adding that it has also made it difficult for their farmers to transport their farm produce to markets.

“Our roads are appalling. We need to be embarrassed that things have gotten to this embarrassing state,” Segun Showunmi, a former governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun, said. “We have been on a steady journey to this disgraceful state of affairs.”

In July 2024, singer Habeeb Okikiola, aka Portable, who had just returned from a two-month tour in the United States at the time, in a series of Instagram stories, slammed Mr Abiodun, for the poor road infrastructure in Ogun, and asked him to step aside for someone who can provide motorable roads, after his white Range Rover got stuck in a ditch along Sango Ota road.

On Tuesday, Amnesty International, in a statement on X, condemned Mr Abiodun, over the unlawful arrest by the State Security Service in Abeokuta, of a pastor and activist, Kayode Olawoye, on Monday, after going viral for constantly advocating against bad roads in Ogun, the latest, which was the Agbara-Adiyan Road, which according to him, is a three-kilometer road, started halfway six months ago, but later abandoned, putting commuters, traders, and residents in anguish.

Last November, in Abeokuta, Mr Abiodun insisted that he was prioritising road development across the state.

“We have reconstructed every major expressway connecting Lagos state to Ogun state as a matter of fact; every major expressway connecting Ogun State to adjacent states,” the governor said. “We will continue to remain focused despite the sponsored barking of some naysayers. You know I am not one to respond to the frivolous sponsored rhetoric of some frustrated politicians.”