If qualifications and work experience of the people aspiring to succeed Senator Abiola Ajimobi as the executive governor of Oyo state in 2019, it won’t be out of point to say that majority of them are qualified to be governor but how far can their intimidating credentials go in helping them to achieve their goals and be a better leader .
Nicholo Machiaveli in his book THE PRINCE said one of the qualification that can make you relevance in the society is either to build an intimidating credentials or have somebody that will stand as a God father who will present you and use his life and blood to defend you, the latter was possible in the yester years but ended in Oyo state with the demise of Late Lamidi Adedibu.
One cannot rule out godfatherism in Nigeria politics but going by what happened in 2015 in the country, there is no doubting the fact that people are also conscious of their voting power and the need to use it in shaping the government through selection of people perceived to be responsible and credible to represent them at any level of government.
Senator Abiola Ajimobi’s administration has recorded remarkable achievements in Oyo state particularly in the area of infrastructural development, and other sectors and for the trend to continue there is need for a credible successor who will not only extend continue to build on his legacies but extend the development other part of the state and maintain harmonious working relationship with politicians and the civil servants who are the engine of the government.
Success they say without a good successor is a failure so therefore, for Senator Ajimobi to remain a champion In Oyo Politics he needs a professional in politics with political experience, good human relation and somebody that can be accessible and have a good listening ear and be conscious of the need of the people and not those who want to be governor because they just want the title as governor with no clear cut vision or plan for the people they want to govern.
The aspirants too need not to only flaunt their credentials, intimidating credentials is needed but may not guarantee brilliant performance when they have the mantle of leadership but they should let have what they have for us as people of the state, how realistic is their dreams and how will the agenda transform the life of a common man on the street and not further impoverish them.
Oyo state need to be on auto pilot, like Lagos and that is why a good succession plan is needed. Lagos For instance, is on a 25 years development plan ,they have in few years ago mapped out plans and pattern of development they want to bring into Lagos and how they want Lagos to be in the next 25 years and interestingly they have succeeded in achieving larger percentage of the goal because they put in place good succession plan and nobody dare derail from the path set, the same can be replicated in the state
The problem of Oyo state is not that we don’t know what we want or want achieve , in fact the idea available if harmonized and properly coordinated for implementation will not only place us on a pedestal far above many states in the country but also bring rapid development to all nooks and crannies of the state but our staggered succession plan and uncoordinated ideas have put us in this level of underdevelopment and the need to address that is now.
All the five regions in the state, Ibadan ,Ibarapa Oyo, Ogbomoso and Oke Ogun are endowed with great potentials that can be used for economic development, they have both natural and human resources which if properly harnessed will function effectively for the propagation of developmental agenda and economic development In the regions respectively but politicization of development and growth has limited some of the regions to where they are now there is need to correct that if truly the state want to move away from where it is now.
Whoever wish to succeed Ajimobi either in APC, PDP, Accord ,LP or any other party should not only flaunt their credentials and wealth of experience, they should also let the people of the state have their development plan and how it will transform the state and positively affect a common man
