Akeredolu Has Divided The House That Brought Him To Power –
Akinsehinwa
A chieftain of the All Progressive Congress and a governorship aspirant on the party’s platform in Ondo State, Hon. Akin Awodeyi – Akinsehinwa popularly known as Apata has accused Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of destroying the house that brought him to power. Apata made this statement in an interview with Triangle Media at the weekend in Akure.
He also accused Akeredolu of lacking the skills to manage crisis as well as performing below people’s expectation. He said:
“I am not against Akeredolu. I am only against incompetence, lack of capacity and lack of ability in crisis management. You expect crisis even after winning and you can try to manage that crisis; it is very key and very germane. You don’t divide the house that brought you up.
“It is like killing your mentor and you want to still go back to the mentor and become something. It is not done that way. He is my senior brother and I give it to him. I respect him and I love him. You can never see me condemn him anywhere. But when we are talking of competence and good government we need to sit down and re-discuss”.
Speaking on the achievements of Arakunrin Akeredolu in the last three years, Akinsehinwa said that the governor’s achievement was at best a paper achievement.
“What I see today in Ondo state that they call achievement is what I can call a paper work achievement. And in addition to that, they said he is constructing this and that. My brother, you are collecting money from Abuja, do you want to keep it inside your pocket? You must do something.
“So, building or constructing a road today is not an achievement. I am looking for a government who can bring global scale to local market. Not government that say I collect 20 million from Abuja, I spend #5,000 naira to impress people. It is statutory that you must do it. So nobody can say because you are constructing road, you are doing me a favour? You are not doing me a favour, it is statutory. You must provide road for people to move”.
Akinsehinwa also spoke on the fly over bridge in Ore which he said was not the best that Ondo deserves from Akeredolu.
“I don’t know the amount. I have been hearing #5 billion. I have been hearing #2 billion. I have been hearing #3 billion and I have been hearing #4 billion. So I can’t say categorically that this is the amount of money spent on that project. But I can tell you categorically that you can only give what you have. The gader you see in that place is what my brother believe is the best for Ondo state, but I will tell you that that is not the best for Ondo State.
“If rain comes today, there’s going to be trouble. I once told my driver to stop when we got to that place. I actually came out of the car to inspect the place myself. If there is any rain today, drainage will just go to people’s houses and before you know it the thing will start cracking from the ground and then start talking of repairing it again. Does it make sense” ?
Meanwhile, Akinsehinwa has described the Ore fly over bridge as a project in his master plan for Ondo State. But he however said that what he designed for the state would have turned out to be a tourist center for people to see and appreciate.
“You can only work within the ambit that you understand. You can’t give what you don’t have. So, what he has done now, that is his limitation and I congratulate him for that. But when we get there, we will repair, we will reconstruct, we will put things right the way it is supposed to be. He is my party person as at today. I still see him as an APC member so that is it. So, I won’t come out to condemn him in whatever that he is doing. I will only tell you that he has done his best, so his best cannot be more than what you have seen”.
In a similar vein, Akinsehinwa has dismissed as mere rumour the news flying round that the Unity Forum had settled for Engr. Ife Oyedele as its preferred consensus candidate. Apata as he popularly known also expressed optimism that he stood a good chance of being chosen by the Selection Committee of the Unity Forum. According to him, ” If to go by what I call screening that we went through recently with the seven man panel, I think am sure if they want to be very right and be honest, I doubt if anyone can have the kind of opportunity that I have in emerging from that place.
“I can call myself as the ‘photorigo’ who provide even better than being expected because APC is my party. I am a progressive, so I know the in and out of APC. I wouldn’t know for other party, I have always being a progressive. The foundation of APC I can tell you where APC is today, be it local, state, and national. I think I can tell you so when I say I am APC. APC is me and I doubt if anybody can tell me the word APC that I cannot tell that person what is being expected to happen”.
He also said it was wrong of Akeredolu to have taken credit for Ore Industrial Park which he described as a project that predated his administration. In the words of Akumsehinwa, “Unfortunately, the driver of that Ore happened to be a junior brother to me. I won’t condemn Akeredolu, but don’t forget that this Ore issue started from 2012 and it was led by Tayo Akinjomo. He was a Commissioner for Industry under Mimiko.
“I remember that he issued over 300 Certificates of Occupancy for investors to come and invest in Ondo State at that particular time. So, I believe government is going to be a continuum and if government is going to be a continuum, we don’t celebrate somebody’s achievement.
“Like I could remember when General Olusegun Obasanjo called Agagu a repairer. He said, where is your own project ? You are repairing everywhere, where is your project ? So the question is that where is my brother’s project” ?
Speaking on his in the past effort to ensure the grow of APC and make the party acceptable to the people of Ondo State, Akinsehinwa said: “The APC that I know, that I participated was the APC that I was the only governorship aspirant that toured 3009 units, 18 local government areas, 203 wards of Ondo state more than 70 times before the election of President Muhammad Buhari.
” And as at that time, we don’t even have a commissioner talk less of having even counselor; but to the glory of God, myself, Senator Ajayi Borrofice and some other leaders worked. We have not departed from limelight and after that a lot of people started coming and you know everybody will associate with success. Nobody want to be associated with failure”.
While speaking on his contributions to the emergence of Akeredolu at the keenly contested APC primary election that eventually produced
the incumbent governor, He said :
“I want to acknowledge that he knew what happened at that primary. I want to re-confirm to you today that I provided for the party all the vehicles that were used to convey people to the primary election. Underline.. Let them come and face me and say no. I gave 35 buses to them through the party. I bought it for them for the primary.
“Don’t let us go into that because if we are going into that we will open a lot of can of worms. So, when I say I am the party, I am the party, I am APC. I am a progressive person and a progressive will want to win.
We want to have our own party back.
“I have never been to any other political party from the the day that I joined politics. I have never gone to any political party and I have never worked against my party in my life. Even when they were dangling the carrot to my face I said no. I said I started this party. How can I use my hand to destroy the house that I built. When all of them were jumping from one party to the other, I refused to go because progressivism is the only language that I understand”.
However, on the expressed confidence by Governor Akeredolu that he does not need members of the Unity Forum to get re-elected since he had once won election without their support ; Akinsehinwa said “I respect him but when it comes to governance, we will discuss and I will tell him that this is where you have goofed. Then, the ability to manage crisis you don’t have it and don’t drive people away.
“Then, on the belief that he will win even better this time around than before; he should know that victory belongs to God. I can tell you now that the whole of Ondo State will vote for me as am talking, but within me I know the truth. You don’t deceive two people at the same time. If the people you are deceiving do not know, but inside of you, you will know that you are deceiving yourself. Is that not so ? So he is my senior brother I will never say anything negative about him, I will only talk about his administration”.