By DAPO FALADE
A governorship aspirant in the 2023 elections in Oyo State, Chief Adeniyi Akintola SAN, has said he would continue to commend the state governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde, if he performs well and condemn him, if he does otherwise.
Akintola, who was a governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 elections, said he is not like a disco critique who will not see anything good in his or her opponents.
He said this in response to a question while speaking at a breakfast chat with the South-West Group of Online Publishers (SWEGOP) in Ibadan, on Tuesday, and also disclosed that he will contest the 2023 governorship election in the state.
He said the present administration in the state, led by Governor Makinde, deserves commendations when it does anything that would fast-track the development of the state, adding that the governor should also be condemned whenever he fails to live up to expectations.
“I am not a disco critique who will not see anything good in his opponent. When he does anything good, I will commend him and when he does anything contrary to expectations, I will stand up to condemn him.
“Having said that, the Seyi Makinde-led administration has no template and no think-tank as far as governing the state is concerned. What we have been using in the state is the template by Senator Rashidi Ladoja, and as expounded by former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
“However, Seyi Makinde has been doing some things which can further aid the development of the state. The present administration has done some good in terms of the physical development of the state.
“He took the right steps as far as his decision to rehabilitate the Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba; Agbowo Shopping Complex and the Ajoda New Town which is a project initiated by the administration of General David Jemibewon in 1976.
“I do commend Makinde, even to the discomfiture of some members of my own political party. I am not a disco critique. I will always say the truth, not minding whose ox is gored. Where he does well, I will praise him and where he fails, I will condemn him. I will not act because I am in the APC.
“Ajoda New Town is our own crude oil in Ibadanland. Iwo Road is our own Allen Avenue and the Mokola Round About is our own Broad Street. Any efforts to make all these work should be commended.
“However, like I said earlier, Makinde has no template and a think-tank that should not be seen but who acting behind the scene to make things work in the state,” he said.
Speaking on his governorship ambition, Chief Akintola categorically declared that he will contest the 2023 elections in the state, notwithstanding what he described as the betrayal of his contributions and efforts in the APC before the party’s primary for the 2019 elections.
On his edge above other governorship aspirants in the Oyo APC, he said no people are the same, adding that they all came from different background, adding that his contributions and background would give him the ticket.
He said he has paid his dues and is suitably qualified to be the next governor of the state, adding that he ceded the governorship slot to the late former Governor Abiola Ajimobi, even when Senator Tinubu offered him the ticket on a platform of gold.
“I took my egbon, Uncle [Abiola] Ajimobi to Senator Tinubu. I would have been the governor before Uncle Ajimobi when Senator Tinubu told me to start preparing for the Oyo governorship seat.
“But I told him [Tinubu] that I have a senior brother [Ajimobi] and that he should be given the opportunity. I would have stolen the show but I rather said the ticket to should be given to Uncle Ajimobi. I did that on the ground of being an Omoluwabi.
“In 2019, I felt that same sense of betrayal the late Uncle Bola Ige felt when Chief Olu Falae was adopted as the presidential candidate in the 1999 elections.
“I felt it was an apostasy for the APC to have given the governorship ticket to somebody who only joined the party in April and became its candidate in August.
“I cannot be clapping for such an apostasy. Where is the principle of Omoluwabi? Some people seeks to be governor, with just being from Ibadan as their qualification. But I have paid my dues.
“Uncle Bola Ige would never sit with some set of people that are now occupying the public space. But that is not the case now and that explains the quagmire we are in. All sorts of charlatans, people with no character, principle or sense of values, have taken over,”
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