2023: Adelabu vows to reclaim Oyo’s pacesetting glory, declares governorship bid

Governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State in the 2019 general election, Oloye Adebayo Adelabu, has restated his determination to reclaim the state’s pacesetting glory.

The former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), deputy governor noted that his gubernatorial ambition is intended to enrich politics with ethics, to mix the soil of knowledge and professional competence with water of experiences in the service of humanity, promising to give practical expressions to ideals of humanity in the state.

He said, “You will all recollect that I contested for the governorship of Oyo state in 2019 and I lost the election under very controversial circumstances that almost heated the polity of the state but for my love for peace and tranquility in Oyo State and, Nigeria as a whole, I, therefore, decided to pursue the part of the rule of law instead of the rule of violence and thuggery by approaching the courts and we pursued the matter up to the Supreme Court. That action was to clearly show that I am a man that abhors violence and thuggery. I vehemently abhor the dictates of a one-man dictatorship.

“I and our great party wanted a land of peace in Oyo State just as our late leader, Abiola Ajimobi abhorred violence and brought peace to bear in Oyo State for the eight years he governed the state”.

Speaking on Monday at a press conference heralding his official declaration, in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, Adelabu said the Seyi Makinde-led government in the state is failing daily and woefully on fundamental departments of government business, adding that the security of lives and properties is a distant achievement for the current government.

According to him, “Makinde’s government has enthroned thuggery and hooliganism as the official controllers of Oyo State. The indigenes and residents in the Pacesetter state can not sleep with their two eyes closed talkless of doing businesses of life with peace and progress. The Excellency of Government is no longer excellent in Oyo State in the light of our sordid performance in the Environment, Education, Health, Security, and Agriculture among others”, he said.

He further lamented that the hitherto neat environment has become sanitary eyesores, saying “heap of refuse is everywhere in the medians of the majority of roads in the blessed City of Ibadan”.

“The government thinks he can convince anybody with his fluke performance by the provision of street lights in salient places. It is even paradoxical that the Engineer in control of the state is powering street lights with generators instead Solar Lights that are the order of the modern century”

Adelabu also expressed concern over the poor quality of education in the state, which he claimed is far from the excellency of this government.

“Public schools have become mangers for goats and animals despite the recorded fact that Governor attended public schools. The Teachers are unmotivated but this Government thinks the exterior satisfaction of salary can give motivation to teachers. What a messy scene in the affairs of the Oyo State public. Oyo state must reclaim its lost glory by reducing out-of-school children and making primary and secondary education, unlike tertiary education, free and compulsory. There should be plans in place to upgrade the decrepit primary and secondary schools”.

The APC guber hopeful, however assured residents that he will deliver the state from the shackles of poverty as well as the insensitive of the Seyi Makinde-led Oyo State government.

The event had in attendance, former Senator Ayo Adeseun, Alh. Basiru Akanbi, former Oyo state PDP chairman, Chief Kunle Sanda, Hon. Olagunju Ojo, former Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Alhaji Wale Sanusi, Chairman Adelabu Mandate Group, Alh. Wasiu Ajimobi.

Others include Alhaji Abu Gbadamosi, factional chairman of APC in Oyo state, and his Deputy , Alhaji Isiaka Alimi, Chief Akinade Fijabi, Otunba Rotimi Ajanaku, Hon. Saheed Fijabi, former House of Representatives member, among others.