7th March, 2016
GBENRO ADESINA/IBADAN
Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State said Monday he would conduct local government polls around July this year for the democratically elected chairmen to take mantle of leadership in the 33 local government areas in the state.
Governor Ajimobi, who stated this during the inauguration of 33 caretaker chairmen of the local government councils in the state, told the chairmen not to contemplate staying in office beyond four months, immediately after which, he said, election into the LGs will be held.
For about five years of Ajimobi’s tenure in the state, the 33 councils in the state has been managed by unelected chairmen.
The governor assured that caretaker chairmen that performed extra-ordinarily after their four-month term would emerge as candidates for local government election.
He admonished the people against piling pressure on the chairmen for personal favour or seeing them as philanthropists or Father Christmas.
The governor urged the people to change their attitude of seeing council chairmen as automated teller machines (ATM), stressing, “If you perform well, you have the opportunity to emerge as candidates from your local governments after your four-month tenure. We will not handpick or impose any candidate on the people. That era is gone for good. No godfather will assist you to win ticket. I will even advise you against the idea of godfather because they will always ask for more. Quality service is what will assist you to win the people’s confidence. It is also the one that will assist our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rule Oyo State for a very long time. Therefore, let the people feel your impact.”
Ajimobi also admonished the newly sworn-in local government bosses to shun extravagant lifestyle, insisting that their four-month tenure was not to commit resources to naming, burial and marriage ceremonies at the expense of grassroots development.
He said commonsense dictates that the lean resources accruable to the state and local governments should be committed to people-oriented and legacy projects, adding, “Your appointment is an opportunity for you to dare and endure, and not for ease and comfort. I enjoin you to be guided by the oath of office you just took, have the fear of God in whatever you do. If you fear God, you will not commit atrocities. Please note that nothing will keep you in office beyond four months, as we will be going into elections immediately afterwards. Therefore, use this opportunity to join hands with us to develop this state. Don’t betray the confidence reposed in you. I must warn that if you under-perform, you will not even last four months because when you fail, we all fail. But I won’t allow you to fail me. You are not elected to service naming ceremonies, marriages and burials. We can’t continue with this retrogressive attitude and expect any meaningful development in our local governments.”
The governor, who touted Oyo as having the largest arable land in the country, urged the chairmen to join hands with him in his drive for agricultural revolution as an alternative source of income for the state.
He also said that the state had the advantage of having the largest concentration of agric research institutes in the country, as well as being the gateway to the North from Lagos, the nation’s commercial centre.
Speaking, the Chairman of Itesiwaju Local Government, Hon Adeniyi Abdulfatai Adeagbo, noted that it was time to forge new strategies, new ethos, and new ethic that would help in developing the council areas.
Adeagbo said, “Our economic future will be transformed, our agricultural potential will be redirected to the path of greatness, our infrastructure will get a facelift, our health centres will be transformed from mere drug prescription centres to model health facilities with model laboratories. Our classrooms will be filled with quality teachers, our recreation centres will be important, our social life will be re-modified; our youth will be trained and empowered. Our aged and less privileged will be given attention. We will position Itesiwaju as one of the greatest local governments in the state.”
The Chairman promised unity among different communities that make up the local government, stressing, “there will be no difference between the people of Otu, Ipapo, Okaka, Okeamu, Igbojaye, Babaode and Komu; there will be no discrimination between Ibise and Ilesan, the Christians and the Muslims, the indigenes and settlers, the educated and non-educated. We are all going be our brothers’ keepers. Love, peace and unity will be the core of our administration, righteousness and justice will be our doctrine.”
He enjoined his people to join hands with him to build the area to enviable place it deserves.