The Social Democratic Party in Ondo State noted that the past 24 hours have been extremely upsetting in our beloved Sunshine State. A reputable print media, This Day Newspaper quoted the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu as saying that our dear Governor is “incapacitated.” Since the publication was made public, we have observed how the ruling party and its cheerleaders are busy racing from pillar to post in an effort to implement a damage control strategy.
Though they made strenuous efforts to control the damage, their efforts were not a pleasant to behold. In a clime of sincere people, since everyone claimed they speak with the governor on a daily basis, a simple provision of the audio recording of their conversations to the general public would have laid this rumour to rest. Recall how President Obasanjo publicly called late Yar’Adua when the rumours about his death circulated during his presidential campaign in January 2007 to reassure Nigerians that Yar’Adua was still alive.
Let us quickly note that since Arakunrin Akeredolu has turned over leadership to his Deputy Governor in an acting capacity, Akeredolu’s health should not be a topic of public discourse. However, the APC and its overambitious gangs made it their business to keep the Ondo people talking about Akeredolu because they all demonstrate that, in the absence of the governor, they will only act in their own self-interest. Thanks to the revelation we got from the series of accusations and counter-accusations made by the various overambitious groups within Ondo APC, we now understand that APC has lost control of its members as the party watched helplessly while the political darts continued to fly around.
For reasons we considered brazenly self-serving, the dramatis personae are brazenly altering the course of Ondo State’s history in a manner that might leave the state permanently on edge. So far, the acting governor has demonstrated that he is not prepared to live up to the expectation of his assigned office.
Nothing much has changed since the governor handed over to him. Pensioners who served our beloved state during their productive years are perishing in poverty, and the acting governor did nothing to make progress on their owed gratuities. While Aiyedatiwa continued to turn a blind eye, Polytechnic lectures downed tools over their fourteen months unpaid salaries.
The other day, the acting governor expressed concern on the poor reading culture in the state. The questions that beg for answer is that what does Aiyedatiwa expect from a state with a shortage of teachers for its public school? The government failed to hire new teachers while failing to fill the voids left by the departing teachers. As a result, the available teachers are now required to teach more than five arms of classes each day in JSS and SSS classes.
What does he expect from the state where our school libraries are in sorry state? The situation has gotten so bad that the students graduating from secondary schools are being mandated to submit a text book or dictionary before they could be allowed to write final examinations. What a shame! Students and their parents continue to bear the brunt of the removal of subsidy on petroleum while Aiyedatiwa-led APC government has failed to do anything meaningful to ameliorate the effect of the crisis on the people of Ondo State.
APC has shown that it lacks capacity to govern the Ondo State, and we are not fooled into believing that the party will do anything significant during their remaining time in power. All the daily cover-ups and mudslinging that the APC and its self-serving leaders feed us on a daily basis are colourful and unique. After consuming enough of them, one begins to realise why the good people of Ondo State must vote them out of Alagbaka come 2024.
It is a glaring issue to the people of the state that, the ruling party APC and its members are the enemies of themselves. While their boss, the governor, is still battling illness, it is highly unacceptable for people in the cabinet to have begun developing campaign strategies, forming various political groups, and displaying all types of criteria needed to be considered as the best choice candidate for the number one seat. We can assert unequivocally that the governor is more beloved by the good people of Ondo State and the opposition party than by the lieutenants he personally selected.
It was evidently clear that the state workers organised prayers for the quick recovery of Mr. Governor as well the opposition parties who have prayed for the Governor’s quick recovery. However, no single release or statement from the cabinet members that they set aside a day for prayers for the governor or inviting religious leaders across boards for the purpose. Instead, some of them have started campaigning undercover, which of course can be interpreted as nothing more than the egotistical interests of these individuals.
APC was never intended to produce incorruptible leaders, and there is nothing anyone can do to change that. This is evidenced by the level of shamelessness displayed by the overambitious APC politicians since Akeredolu’s health crisis came to light, as well as the lengths to which they have gone in demonstrating that they are willing to sacrifice the progress of the state for their own ambition. Voting them out entirely in 2024 is the best course of action.
For six years now, APC has shown that they are only interested in government, not governance. In our very eyes, we watch as these so called ‘progressives’ who once criticised their predecessors ended up becoming the same monsters they hunted. They are predatory machine who cannot live up to a level of integrity they demanded from someone else.
As if this was not sad enough, the monopolistic combines of ‘progressive youths’ and other opportunity seeking ‘intellectuals’ who could have rendered a substantial help in reining in the excesses of APC in Ondo State seems too busy collaborating with the ruling party to formulate the cover ups that continue to turn back the clock of our state’s history. In virtually every online and offline platform, these unscrupulous elements continue to give legal and intellectual cover to the ruling party atrocities. No thanks to these learned fellows, every action and statement that ought to be called out is endlessly justified through a ridiculous stretch of logic.
These folks should know that to be a party’s supporter, and a good citizen of Ondo State should not be mutually exclusive. We should all be able to call out corrupt parties and leaders when they stray from the ideals of uprightness and not be all over the place, selectively digging out aspects of the law or bringing up false arguments that can help them to justify their faux pas.
APC leaders and praise singers who are busy taken steps that impede Ondo State’s advancement should be reminded that leaders will come and go, but the precedent they help set will come back to bite them. Someday, when they or their loved ones have been ensnared by the devil they helped birth, history will have it written on their epitaphs: these ones died in the hands of the monsters they helped create.
Hon. Stephen Adewale
Ondo State Chairman
Social Democratic Party (SDP)
