Senator Abiola Ajimobi led All progressives Congress recently celebrated six years in government and from all indication the government rated itself higher than its predecessors and express optimism that the party is going to retain power beyond 2019.
Senator Ajimobi’s achievements in infrastructural development, peace and security, education, Agriculture and health sector were listed as some of the factors that will enhance their chances of governing Oyo state beyond 2019 ,To them, the achievements are not only unprecedented and monumental, they are crucial to the advancement and restoring of the lost glory of the state as a pace setter
Although many critics of the administration differs on some of the claims describing the six years administration as a monumental waste because they feel that most of the projects have no direct bearing to the people some even describe the inability of the governor to conduct local government election as undemocratic but Barrister Morohunkola Thomas ,Executive assistant on political matter to Governor Ajimobi while defending that said “why will that man be afraid of conducting local government election? the man is prepared to conduct Local Government election and that is the reason why he has set up the OYSIEC, their offices are ready he had released fund for them he has prepared for election until some people went to court and got an injunction restraining the government from conducting an election, what we have done is this, OYSIEC is ready as soon as the litigation is over they will conduct election, another thing is that we have initiated out of court settlement with the litigants , within our own system , it is our own advantage that the Local government election is conducted, but when the opposition comes around”
The National Secretary of Accord Party Dr Nureni Adeniran at a debate held in Ibadan said “ all what Ajimobi led administration claims as achievements have no direct bearing on the life of the people of the state, he said the construction and expansion of some roads in the state and construction of Mokola bridge is a waste of resources which should be channeled to other interior part of the state where roads are needed by the people .
The Publicity Secretary of Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Akeem Azeez In his own opinion, said the APC party is only engaging in propaganda, he countered all the highlighted achievements ,in the area of industrialisation, he argued that the APC governments were only reeling out figures that are not backed up with physical facts.
He said “If there was really 6.5 billion naira investment in Oyo state, things would have improved; the economic situation would have been better. We have to be realistic., they talked about provision of pipe borne water, in my community, there is no single running water. So what are we talking about? We need to eschew propaganda and face reality. This government is a government of the few, by the few.”
Apart from the members of the opposition party some members of the public in a survey carried out by our reporter scores Senator Ajimobi APC government few above average , to some of them the inability to sustain the tempo with which he started relationship with the civil servants when he first came in 2011is a very strong weakness of his government, they also punctured his claims on peace and security saying the Operation Burst which assisted in maintaining peace and orderliness in the society are no longer functioning thereby given the miscreants and armed robbers to resume terrorizing people of the state .
Ajumose shuttle initiated in his first term was a very good and effective projects which did not only take people away from ram shackled vehicle but also reduce the cost of transportation within the city but the critics observe that the Ajumose shuttle may not outlive the government of Ajimobi because of lack of control and sustainability of the project, “ How many new buses have been added to the scheme, since it started, many of the small buses have been abandoned while those big ones were poorly maintained except for the few ones that still carries civil servants, majority of the buses have lost quality and are not serving the people as it ought to be doing.
The issue of culture and tourism were at a very lower ebb in the state, Government at a point came up with beautiful ideas that will promote tourism and cultural event in the state but it is quite unfortunate that the state is not only wasting the humongous tourism potentials but also loosing chances of generating income and employment through tourism in the state. A tourism expert Akanbi Tayo said Oyo state is blessed with a lot of tourism potentials , they spread across the state, in Ibadan alone we have more than hundred tourism sites and apart from the Agodi gardens which one again, the trans amusement park is wasting away, Bower’s Tower is not in good shape, nothing is happening to Ado Awaye suspended lake, even the mountains and structures in Igbeti have not received any torch from this administration, tourism is beyond the propaganda, in the first term, the government tried and initiated some cultural events , Apart from Ofi day that was held in Iseyin, and cultural programms of Alaafin and some individuals please which other reasonable cultural event has been organized” He queried.
There is no doubting the fact that the oppositions and people of the state have many areas where they do not agree with the government and fortunately that there are no serious criticism from the oppositions that will put APC on it toes , they are weak and docile, the internal crisis among some of the parties makes them weaker and uncoordinated this makes the status quo to remains as no political party may be strong enough to give APC a serious fight in 2019,
Executive Assistant to the governor on Politics Barr Morohunkola Thomas while speaking on the opposition and 2019 in Oyo state in an interview said “where is the opposition to face us, is it the disintegrated accord party, majority of its members are already joining APC, in the next one month you will see the financial of Accord party officially declaring for APC at a rally, few weeks ago I was in Saki with some of our colleague to receive hundreds of Accord Party into APC, is it the PDP of Markafi or Sherrif that will face us, or the Labour Party that has already fallen down, with the exit of former governor Alao Akala, where Is the Labour Party again, there could not have been any Labour Party in 2015 if Alao Akala was not there and now that Alao Akala has left the place Labour Party is dead, I can’t see any opposition , when we run for that election it will be 63-0”
“While I agreed that 24 hours is too long in politics, but I know the principalities involved in the game here, they are irreconcilables, so it will be a marriage of incompatible if there is so called merger, who can manage the relationship we have in APC as we are doing now, no having a merger is a difficult political assignment”.
As it is in Oyo state today the APC still have an upper hand above other political parties in the state and with the movement of strong political pillar of parties like Accord Party, and Labour party into the APC , it won’t be wrong to say that 2019 is a sure win for APC in Oyo state irrespective of what happens within the party and where the candidates emerges from ,unless miracle happens ,
