•With high hopes, residents await installation of eminent son
By Oluseye Ojo
The atmosphere is electric. The people are elated. Their expectations are high. Right now, all residents eagerly await that day in February 2017 when a new chapter would be opened in the history of the state.
Welcome to Owo, a historic town in Ondo State and hometown of Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), Ondo State Governor-elect.
On Friday, February 24, 2017, Akeredolu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and winner of the just-concluded governorship election in Ondo State, would be sworn in as governor of the 40-year-old state. Akeredolu is set to be the second Owo son elected as governor of the state. His election comes about 33 years after the late Chief Adekunle Ajasin, who also hailed from Owo, administered the state as governor between 1979 and 1983. Akeredolu will succeed Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, the current occupant of the seat.
Owo, according to the 2006 national census, has a population of 222,262. It is located in Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State. The name Owo was reportedly handed down by the first ruler of the town, Ojugbelu. While in power, he allegedly conducted himself in a pleasant manner, which earned him a lot of respect and reverence, which means ‘Owo’ in Yoruba.
Born on Saturday, July 21, 1956, the Governor-elect bagged his law degree from the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1977. He was called to the Nigerian bar in 1978 and became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 1998. He served as Attorney-General of Ondo State from 1997 to 1999. He was chairman of the Legal Aid Council between 2005 and 2006; he has also served as the president of the Nigerian Bar Association.
Akeredolu got his primary education at the Government School, Owo, before he proceeded to Aquinas College, Akure, the Ondo State capital. He later left for Ibadan in Oyo State, where he attended Loyola Collegem from there he moved to Comprehensive High School, Ayetoro, Ogun State.
Home of the Akeredolus
Everywhere in Owo, the excitement is palpable. It is even more so at the house where Akeredolu was born in 1956. The house, the reporter was told, was built by his parents, Reverend J. Ola Akeredolu and Lady Evangelist Grace Akeredolu of the Aderoyiju family of Igbotu, Ese Odo, Ondo State. The house is a six-room face-to-face bungalow at 39, Otutu Street, Igboroko, Owo.
Only corporate and individual tenants currently use the house. The tenants are Mr. Musa Ibrahim, who sells electrical spare parts, and Owo zonal office of Nigerian Union of Tailors Cooperative Multipurpose Limited, Ondo State. Each of the two corporate tenants uses two rooms on each side of the house. The third tenant, who was not at home when this reporter visited, uses the remaining two rooms with his family.
Though the operators of the cooperative politely refused an interview with the reporter, Ibrahim described the Akeredolus as very kind and disciplined people.
He told the reporter: “I have been here for the past 33 years. I knew Rev. Ola Akeredolu, the father of the Governor-elect, and his mother too. They lived in this house. Now, baba is late, but mama is alive and she doesn’t live in this house. She now lives with one of her children somewhere, but I won’t tell you the place. The Akeredolus will tell you where she lives when you meet them.
“This house beside the road was built by the father of the Governor-elect. An elder sibling of his built the house behind it, while the one at the back of the second house was built by the current head of the Akeredolu family. The Governor-elect is a good man. He comes to see his father’s house. We know him very well here.”
Owo at a glance
Owo is a 30-minutes drive from Akure, the capital. It is a quiet and peaceful town. A few days after the November 26, 2016, election, Owo has returned to its serene state. But the posters, digital banners and billboards erected by candidates still dotted strategic spots as the reporter prowled the town, which has one major road, Owo Township Road. The road has been updated with a good drainage system, but the streetlights have not been fixed.
It is a smooth ride for motorists from White House Roundabout to the frontage of the palace of Olowo of Owo, Oba Folagbade Olateru Olagbegi III, at Oke-Oja. Owo Township Road begins from Emure Junction and ends at Iyere exit. The town also hosts the Federal Medical Centre and many commercial banks.
High expectations
Owo people have high expectations for the incoming administration to be headed by Akeredolu. The first thing they want him to do on assumption of office is to find a way to pay the seven-month arrears of salary being owed public workers in the state.
According to the people, they also want potable water running in taps across the town; they want more local government councils created in the town, they also want their celebrated son to attract companies to Owo, fix the bad roads and provide streetlights.
Mr. Oluwadare Adeyemi, who lives at Boluwaji Academy, Ibadan, Oyo State, was at the frontage of the Akeredolu family house in Owo when the reporter saw him. He explained that his family house was beside one of the Akeredolus’ houses, and he came from Ibadan to Owo to join his parents and siblings in the town so they could all cast their votes for Akeredolu.
“Now that our townsman will be sworn in as governor in February 2017, we want him to ensure that Owo gets more local governments. As big as Owo is today, we have only one local government, unlike Akure and Ondo that have many local government areas. We want at least two additional local governments in Owo. We also want a power plant to be built in Owo so that we would not have to depend on the power plant in Akure,” he told the reporter.
One of the high chiefs of Owo, Dr. Obanoyen Ademola, the Ogwadogbon of Igboroko Owo, also spoke with the reporter at the palace of the Olowo.
Of Akeredolu, the chief said: “He has a track record of achievements. But we know that he has a lot to achieve because he would like to surpass the record of the late Chief Ajasin. We also expect him to pay the backlog of salaries that the government owes workers, because workers are not happy. It is a fact that a hungry man is an angry man. So, we want him to put happiness on their faces. In a way, payment of salaries regularly will improve our economy in the state.
“Two, the infrastructure of the town and the state generally is nothing to write home about. We want him to work on that. In the area of peace, we want him to sustain the peace in the state. On education, that has been the strength of the state over the years. So, we don’t see it as a special achievement if somebody should now be recording achievements in the area of education. Even the outgoing government is doing very well in the area of education. We just want Akeredolu to improve on what the outgoing administration has achieved.
“On health care, Akeredolu has travelled far and wide. We expect him to make a lot of improvements on the current health care delivery system. The general hospitals and other hospitals are almost moribund. We expect that all these facilities will be improved on, not just the ‘Abiye’ concept or the mother-and-child hospitals.
“We expect him to do general overhauling of the health institutions so that they can deliver adequately, so that overcrowding that is witnessed at the Abiye or hospitals will be a thing of the past. We expect him to develop all health institutions in Ondo State as the mother-and-child hospitals are not even accessible to everybody.”
Ademola also enjoined the incoming governor to give attention to the senior citizens of the state. He said the pensioners served the government with the best of their abilities when they were most useful.
“Now that they are in retirement, and many of them have terminal diseases, we expect the new government to pay their gratuities and pensions regularly so that they can take care of themselves. We will be talking to him to prioritise the issues of the pensioners so that they will live a useful life before they leave this earth,” he said.
Miss Olajumoke Adebayo, a National Diploma II student of the Department of Food Science and Technology, Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, said students in the state want the incoming governor to reduce fees in government institutions: “Presently, we pay over N70,000, depending on your course of study, department and faculty. I want him to reduce our school fees to N30,000. We will be very grateful to him. Our school environment is not very attractive like some other schools. The buildings are old and we want them renovated.”
Many other people in the town urged Akeredolu to fix the bad roads in Owo, including Pastor Oluyeye Oloye, a member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), a civil servant, Mrs. Adenawo, and Miss Damilola Oladapo, SS I student of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic Staff Secondary School, Owo, who all urged the incoming governor to fix the deplorable roads in Owo such as Isuaga, Iyere, Osijogun, Aralepo roads, the collapsed bridge at Ijebu-Owo, and clear the backlog of salaries the state government owes civil servants.
According to Adenawo, Akeredolu is a straightforward person, “He loves people and cares for everybody. He treats everybody equally, irrespective of your status. He is a man that knows where the shoe pinches. He has listening ears and knows the right steps to take.”
A barber, Mr. Temitope Adewale, told the reporter: “May God help him in the task of taking the state forward. We are appealing to him to provide basic social amenities in the state. By so doing, barbers and other artisans will enjoy. We know we cannot ask him to give us money but we will benefit from the amenities. His government can also empower us with soft loans.”
Owo and Akeredolu’s victory
How is Owo relishing the electoral victory of its son, Akeredolu? Dr. Obanoyen Ademola, the Ogwadogbon of Igboroko Owo, averred that, “Generally, we are very happy that the next governor of Ondo State will come from Owo. Our joy knows no bounds because the last time we had the experience was over 33 years ago, during the time of the late Adekunle Ajasin. So, we are very happy that, this time around, one of us is becoming the governor of the state.”
Ademola described Akeredolu as a pride to the town, adding that the legal luminary would bring his rich experience to help the people with the provision of responsible and responsive governance in Ondo State.
Is Akeredolu a chief of Owo? Chief Ademola said no. But he quickly explained that a process was on to confer a chieftaincy title on the legal luminary.
“When the NBA held a programme in Owo, our Kabiyesi, Oba Olagbegi III, who is a lawyer, promised to install the governor-elect as chief. But we have not actually celebrated the installation.
“I am sure at any time, Kabiyesi can install him. It may not be likely that he will be installed before the inauguration. He is a son of Owo. We don’t want people to see us as capitalising on his recent election. He has been elected to govern the whole state, not just Owo. He is an achiever, a well-recognised son of the soil. So, we are not in haste to install him.”
During the governorship election in 2012, Akeredolu managed to get barely 33,000 votes and Mimiko defeated the lawyer even in his polling unit in Owo.
What happened then? Did it suggest that Akeredolu was not popular at home? Ademola asserted that it couldn’t be true. “Those who said he’s not popular in Owo are being economical with the truth. Politicians can say whatever they like. This is somebody who has been Attorney-General of Ondo State a long time ago. He has so many friends in Owo. We love him. He is well known in Owo.”
A word for the Governor-elect
Owo is very rich in culture and tradition. Many people told the reporter that the town would witness the display of songs and dances on the day Aketi, as the incoming governor is also known, is handed the mantle to lead the Sunshine State.
“We are just praying and hopeful that there will be peace and everybody will be happy that day. The whole town will be clothed in bright colours on that day. Owo will definitely exhibit the rich cultural heritage that we are known for. We are all going to celebrate on that day of inauguration,” Chief Ademola said.
He also has a word of advice for the incoming governor.
“From what we are reading, we know he is up to the task. He said he would not dig into the past, he has been elected to govern the state, and we know he is going to concentrate on that. So, all we will say is that he should avoid sycophants. They are very common in politics.
“As much as possible, he should not give sycophants unnecessary attention. He should encourage constructive criticism, which will help his government a lot. He should know that he could always make improvements,” he said.