In a statement issued in Akure and signed by its Director of Media and Public Communications, Wándé T. Àjàyí, the PDP said the claim that a consortium led by Backbone Infrastructure Nigeria Limited and a Canadian firm, NEFEX, had “secured” fifty billion dollars for a refinery project was laughable, given the absence of any verifiable documentation or groundwork.
Àjàyí compared the announcement to a “political fairy tale,” questioning how a state still struggling with basic infrastructure, unpaid pensions, and rising unemployment could suddenly attract a fifty billion dollar investment.
“For context, the Dangote Refinery, the largest in Africa, cost nineteen billion dollars and took nearly a decade to complete. Yet, we are told Ondo has found investors ready to triple that figure on paper, without a feasibility study or environmental clearance,” Àjàyí said.
The PDP also questioned the credibility of NEFEX, which it described as a recently registered Canadian firm with no track record of executing major projects. It noted that neither the full Memorandum of Understanding nor evidence of financing had been made public, insisting that the government was “governing by press release instead of performance.”
The party challenged the state government to publish the full MoU, reveal the names of the financiers, release the Environmental Impact Assessment report, and provide verifiable proof of funds, stressing that governance must be rooted in accountability.
“The people of Ondo are not asking for miracles,” the statement continued. “They are asking for truth, jobs, and functioning infrastructure. They are tired of big numbers that only exist on television and in glossy handouts.”
The PDP warned that such inflated announcements could undermine public trust and scare away genuine investors, urging Governor Aiyedatiwa to focus on tangible results rather than what it called “economic storytelling.”
“Governance is not theatre, and development is not a press release,” Àjàyí concluded. “If the government truly believes in this project, let it show the documents, not decorations.”
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