Michael ‘Laolu
Adeyeye, is one of the governorship aspirants in Ondo State contesting on the
platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
In this interview, Adeyeye is
convinced that the state needs a youthful leader in order to achieve the vision
of its founding fathers.
The lawyer turned politician also justifies his
governorship ambition. Excerpts: Why do you want to be governor of Ondo state?
How rooted is your structure and how deep is your pocket? Being the governor of
Ondo State is an ambition that I have nursed very quietly and prayerfully for a
very long time.
And I believe very strongly that the time is now. Why do I say
that the time is now? I looked around and I can see that there is a gap that
needs to be filled.
There is a need for an energetic leader for Ondo State, a
young visionary leader for Ondo State.
A leader with a modern outlook, a leader
that can marry modern technology with a traditional governance system and achieve
great results for the people.
In terms of
political structure l want to let you know that for a start, l was almost born
in Ondo State.
I was born a month after the state was created. Within the first
six months of my life my family moved to Ondo State.
So I grew up in Ondo
state. I went to primary school in Ondo State, had my secondary school in Ondo
State and l was privileged to have gone to the Obafemi Awolowo University
straight out of Ondo state.
I enjoyed good public education in Ondo State at
some point in time. So l’m not a stranger to Ondo State. In terms of having a
deep pocket and how much money we’re ready to commit to the state, l can tell
you we’re not here to play money politics and we’re not playing godfatherism.
The only father we have is God the father! We’re not here to splash money
around. We’re here to make sacrifice.
We’re here to effect visible and
transparent change that does not need to be sugar-coated or window dressed.
That is why we’re in this race. Looking at Ondo state now would you say it has
met the expectations of its founding fathers who envisioned the creation of the
state over 40 years ago?
Unfortunately, when you look at Ondo state today it’s
a sorry sight. The state which is called the Sunshine state unfortunately the
sun is really not shining there. You can look at it sector by sector.
Take our
educational sector for instance, it is declining.
Right now, from being one of
the top educationally sound states in the nation we’ve now been relegated to
the background.
You seem to lay the blame solely on the current government.
Why? The Olusegun Mimiko administration is fortunately a two term government
which is a rare phenomenon in Nigeria for governor to have eight full years to
implement an agenda of change and improvement on lives.
And to have failed to
utilise such a golden opportunity is really unfortunate for Ondo state hence my
focus on the immediate past government.
A number of recent developments were
championed. It’s not about the party thing. We’re trying to be objective in our
analysis. The government of the late Governor Olusegun Agagu was particularly
more focused.
They left money in the coffers of the state. That government
built good quality roads, bridges in this state that we still point to. That
government did a long-term development plan for this state.
Every government
have had their time. The outgoing government has done a few good things like
the Mother and Child Hospital has been a very good development l must say.
But
it’s not enough. If you have a population of 4.5million and the the hospital is
catering to about 20 per cent of that population then you’re saying that you’ve
provided for the health sector? You have not unfortunately so.
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