Governorship aspirant and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN), has pledged to sustain the enviable achievements of Governor Abiola Ajimobi if he wins the governorship election coming up in the state in 2019.
Akintola spoke yesterday in Igboora, Ibarapa Central Local Government Area of the state, during a visit to APC party leadership and select elders across the three councils of Ibarapa, comprising Ibarapa North, Central and East from whom he appealed for support.
The former deputy speaker of the Oyo State Assembly, explained that aside from “infrastructural renewal and rebirth, which hallmarked Ajimobi’s administration, he (Ajomobi) had equally laid the foundation for lasting peace in the state.”
In his words: “Those who knew what the situation was before the coming of Ajimobi would value the general atmosphere of peace and development in Oyo State today. The governor has stabilised the state and returned peace.
“Ajimobi has offered the template for sustainable development in the state. We must try not return to the years of the locusts. He (Ajimobi) is highly intelligent, urbane, cerebral, and cultured. If we cannot surpass his achievements, we must sustain it.
“I am here to seek your support for the ticket of the party. What Tinubu started in Lagos State and sustained through Raji Fashola and now Akinwumi Ambode is what Ajimobi has instituted in Oyo State too. We want to build on that legacy in Oyo State by seeking your support.”
Aside from the three party chairmen across the councils, other leaders in attendance, who unanimously and expressly favoured Akintola for the governorship slot of the party included Chief Timothy Jolaoso, APC Zonal Leader, Chief Silas Lasunsi and Chief Kazeem Jinadu.
Others in attendance were Chief Niyi Francis Babalola, Alhaji Olaide Abass, Chief Theo Ade Adetunji and Hon. Rafiu Ojegoke.
Akintola lamented dwindling culture of discipline within the APC, which he noted accounted for the “plague of youths, who wanted to have it all at a go,” and urged the leadership to reinvent a process of counselling the youth to cultivate the attitude of patience, party discipline and respect for elders, adding that, “today we have youths who want to climb the tree from the top.”
According to him, it had taken him well over thirty years to climb to the height of a governorship aspirant within the fold of the progressives, learning under the keen mentorship of the late Chief Bola Ige, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Said he: “What we were taught and what we met was that before you dance outside, you dance inside first. We were taught not to jump. I was deputy speaker way back in 1992 and when Chief Ige directed me to resign, I did. We met standards and have kept to the standards.”
Akintola also berated those who created and often preached artificial divisions within the Oyo nation, noting that Oyo remained one, from Otta (Ogun State) to Offa (Kwara State), adding that many families in Ibadan today conveniently traced links and ancestry to other towns like Iwo, Ijebu, Ogbomosho, and other towns.