From: Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
A Senator representing Lagos West and gubernatorial aspirant in Ogun State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Solomon Adeola, has described as hoax, reports in some section of the media that he was seeking an alternative platform to actualize his governorship ambition.
Adeola, otherwise known as Yayi, who declared he remained a loyal member of the ruling party, and will not ditch the party in order to realise his governorship aspiration, said the reports were not only untrue, but a deliberated attempt to mislead his supporters.
According to him, he has been a progressive since he joined politics and planned to remain as such in the foreseeable future, expressing confidence he will clinch the APC governorship in Ogun State.
Adeola stated these at the weekend while speaking to newsmen at the sideline during the grand finale of the Oronna-Ilaro Festival, held at Ilaro, Yewa South Local Government area of Ogun State.
The Senator, who is the Senate Committee Chairman on Local Content, noted that as a loyal party man, he will always respect the rules of the party, provided everything works according to the party guidelines.
His words: “I am a progressive from day one I joined politics and I intend to remain as one. So whosoever is saying I am shopping for another platform, apart from APC, is just speculating. As far as I am concerned, I remain a loyal member of APC and as a party man, I want to say that I will respect the rules of the party, provided everything works according to the party guidelines, and there is equity, justice and fair play.
“I have only warned that for the first time Yewa land is presenting a governor, let the candidate be from the people of Yewa land and not a governor that will be forced on them. This is because it is a standard in the past, where other two senatorial districts produced the governors, nobody forced the candidates on them. They allowed them to choose whoever became the candidates and contested the election. And at the end of the day, only the best candidate emerged.
“And it is in the same spirit that I am calling on all the relevant stakeholders in the state, to allow fair play, equity, fairness and justice to reign, so that Yewa can have their best of the best as governor come 2019”.
On the recent meeting of a group in Ogun East where an APC consensus governorship candidate was chosen, Senator Adeola submitted that every citizen of the state has the right to aspire for the number position pointing out that Ogun West agitation for governor was just an efforts to balance the equation among the three senatorial districts.
“First of all, I believe in the freedom of speech and that of association. The governorship of Ogun State is for every son and daughter of the state. It is as a result to balance the equation that led to the agitation of Yewa for governor after 41 years of existence. What the Ijebu has done as a race is nothing strange, it is just laying claim to what they believe also is their own equal right.
“But we are only using this opportunity to appeal to them that it is only fair, it is only equity and justice, that they should allow us, for the first time after over 40 years of our existence as a people, under one indivisible entity called Ogun State, to allow the Ogun West to produce the governor, at least for once. It is not a matter of confrontation, it is a matter of appeal, a matter of understanding that we are calling on the Ijebu as a race, to allow a Yewa man to be governor for the first time after these years”. He stated.