From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN), on Tuesday commended the state governor, Seyi Makinde, for developing the pace setter state.
He made this known when he featured on a media chat organised by the South West Group of Online Publishers (SWEGOP) in Ibadan, where he made his ambitions known that he would contest the 2023 governorship poll in the state.
Akintola, who was a governorship aspirant on the platform of APC during the 2019 polls, said: “I am not a disco critique who will not see anything good in his opponent. When he does anything good, I will commend him and when he does anything contrary to expectations, I will stand up to condemn him.
“Having said that, the Seyi Makinde-led administration has no template and no think-tank as far as governing the state is concerned. What we have been using in the state is the template by Senator Rashidi Ladoja (who was governor of the state from 2003 to 2007), and as expounded by former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
“However, Seyi Makinde has been doing some things which can further aid the development of the state. The present administration has done some good in terms of the physical development of the state.
“He took the right steps as far as his decision to rehabilitate the Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba; Agbowo Shopping Complex; and the Ajoda New Town, which is a project initiated by the administration of General David Jemibewon in 1976.
“I do commend Makinde, even to the discomfiture of some members of my own political party. I am not a disco critique. I will always say the truth, not minding whose ox is gored. Where he does well, I will praise him and where he fails, I will condemn him. I will not act because I am in the APC.
“Ajoda New Town is our own crude oil in Ibadanland. Iwo Road is our own Allen Avenue and the Mokola Roundabout is our own Broad Street. Any efforts to make all these work should be commended.
“However, like I said earlier, Makinde has no template and a think-tank that should not be seen but who is acting behind the scene to make things work in the state.”
Akintola also spoke on his governorship ambition for 2023, saying he took former governor of the state, the late Senator Abiola Ajimobi, to the former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, prior to his election as governor in 2011.
“I would have been the governor before Uncle Ajimobi when Senator Tinubu told me to start preparing for the Oyo governorship seat. But I told him (Tinubu) that I have a senior brother (Ajimobi) and that he should be given the opportunity. I would have stolen the show, but I rather said the ticket should be given to Uncle Ajimobi. I did that on the ground of being an Omoluwabi.
“In 2019, I felt that same sense of betrayal the late Uncle Bola Ige felt when Chief Olu Falae was adopted as the presidential candidate in the 1999 elections by the Alliance for Democracy (AD).
“I felt it was an apostasy for the APC to have given the governorship ticket to somebody who only joined the party in April and became its candidate in August. I cannot be clapping for such an apostasy. Where is the principle of Omoluwabi? Some people seek to be governor, with just being from Ibadan as their qualification. But I have paid my dues.
“Uncle Bola Ige would never sit with some set of people that are now occupying the public space. But that is not the case now and that explains the quagmire we are in. All sorts of charlatans, people with no character, principle or sense of values, have taken over.”