A governorship aspirant in Ondo state, on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ife Oyedele, has unveiled plans to defeat the incumbent governor of the state, Rotimi Akeredolu, and other governorship aspirants in the forth coming APC governorship primaries scheduled for 20 July, 2020.
Speaking with newsmen Sunday in Abuja on his expectations from the forth coming primaries, Oyedele said his confidence was based on the fact that the present administration under the leadership of Akeredolu has performed bellow standard, so there is the need for positive change in the state.
According to the governorship aspirant, it is a tragedy if the state has a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in the person of Akeredolu, as the governor and does not understand little things that could affect the lives of people positively, adding that Ondo state needs to be transformed.
“We are not satisfied that the present governor has met our expectations, and that is very unfortunate. For example, Ondo state has an isolation centre with only 20 beds, when there are over 300 confirmed Covid -19 cases. Also, the only ventilator we have in Akure is not working. That was why we lost the Commissioner for Health to the dreaded virus.
“Presently in the state, doctors are on strike. Ondo state is the only state in Nigeria where doctors are on strike. They have withdrawn their services even from the isolation centre and all of the patients have been discharged to go back to their homes and continue to infect the citizens of Ondo state with the virus.
“I had to cry to the leadership of the Covid-19 federal taskforce. I am sure they are taking steps about it now. Just 12 years ago, the state was the reference centre for World Health Organisation, in the area of primary health care delivery under governor Olusegun Agagu.
“Of course the effort made by the immediate past governor, Olusegun Mimiko was also commendable. So, to now get to where we are today, is very unfortunate. How low can we continue to sink as a state? We used to be number one in the production of Cocoa, now we are number two. In the rate of doing business, we are now number 19,” he said.
Oyedele further advised other governorship aspirants in the state to put the issue of the past controversial governorship primary election of 2015 behind them, if they want a governorship primary election that would be acceptable to majority of the people.
“Because this is the first time 12 people would obtain forms to contest for a single seat in Ondo state. I am not sure that has happened any where in Nigeria, inspite of the huge amount of money to purchase the form.
“From the local government where the incumbent governor comes from, there are five contenders for the governorship seat. That speaks volume. If I were the governor I will not contest the governorship election again,” he said.
The governorship aspirant promised to reform the police and improve agriculture in the state when he becomes the governor of Ondo state, saying that it will be difficult to stop police men from applying for prefertial posting from Ondo state because their lives would be transformed.
“We will reform the police force in the state, that from the dressing of the Police, we will make sure that every policeman has standard police shoes, extra uniforms and bullet proof vest, communication gadget and vehicles to move around for essential duties at all times.
“If unfortunately, a policeman dies on duty, we will make sure that his family will be given a three bedroom flat and his children sponsored to university level. We will ensure that the community policing that has been put in place by the federal government is well funded and planned. We will cooperate with the police authority to ensure that.
“In terms of agriculture, our intervention in agriculture is going to be very simple and rewarding, by ensuring that farmers have access to quick yielding healthy seedlings and mechanized agriculture. We will return Ondo state to number one in the production of Cocoa.
“We are working with ministries and MDAs and we have discovered the crops that can be grown in Ondo state. We will encourage our farmers to go into that crop farming, so that they can take advantage of all of the assistance the federal government is putting in place in various department and agencies,” Oyedele said.
He also promised to ensure a 24hour power supply in the state, saying that it will be first of its kind in Nigeria. “We have that solution, because that is what I have done for 37 years. By the time we achieve that 24 hours power supply within the first 20 months, we are going to ensure the preservation of agricultural products, because a situation where today, almost 60 pee cent of farmers harvest perished before they are sold, will be a thing of the past.
“Unemployment in Ondo state is very high, it is almost about 60 per cent, and that is not acceptable to me, that is why one of the first thing we are going to do is to deal with skills acquisition and education. This is something that has been practiced in other countries and it has been working for them.
“I have said that those within the ages of 7 and 30 years old, who have never seen the walls of classrooms would be given special rapid education to go to school so that they can read and write. So that they can manage simple industries all over the state. Then we will make them to acquire skills.”
