AKEREDOLU Has Performed Too Far Below Mark – Olafeso
The Peoples Democratic Party South West National Vice Chairman and the leading gubernatorial aspirant in the party, Dr. Eddy Olafeso had described the performance of Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu’s administration in the last three years as being too far below mark. Olafeso made this statement on Tuesday during an interview with Triangle Media in Akure.
Olafeso, who is the only Ph.D holder in the gubernatorial contest of Ondo State accused Aketi of the destruction of the long cherished history of free education in Ondo State from primary school to the tertiary institution. He also counseled those saying that Aketi is working to consider the scary percentage of students that had already dropped out of school since the governor came to office. He added that 35% of students that dropped out school were forced to take such negative life impacting decision because of the approval of the regime of exorbitant fees by the Aketi’s administration.
Olafeso said, “Please for those saying Aketi is working, they should kindly know the percentage of school drop out since he came into the office. He destroyed our entire heritage of free education at the primary and secondary and tertiary institutions. It is scary that in the tertiary institutions, we have over 35% drop-out because parents can no longer pay”.
Likewise, Olafeso dismissed as over hyped the achievements of Governor Akeredolu in over three years of being in office. He said: “Looking at the landscape, you know that few kilometers of road is not exactly what is required to build a state. The human capital development is being abandoned and the quality of education. Can somebody please ask the governor what is the ranking of Ondo state in WAEC and NECO since he came in. So why is he winking in the dark thinking that the world will notice him when he has not done that much”.
The highly intellectual Olafeso said that he and his political family have had been preparing themselves all the while for governance and he thanked God because the time is now right for a progressive to change the landscape of Ondo State for the people. He further said that although the agitation for southern governorship was part of the issue; he however declared that
capacity, integrity, honour and experience were far more important to him then political geography.
Similarly, Olafeso has accused the administration of Arakunrin Akeredolu of lack of transparency as regards the finance and revenue base of Ondo State. In his words, “Were you aware that Ondo State is the owner of OPL 241 and can somebody ask the Aketi government how many barrels of oil they have been able to drop out of that or the additional revenue. All we know is that much money is being taken out through consultancy fees and nothing has been seen”.
Speaking on the issue of rational governorship, Olafeso posited that inasmuch as he prefers that merit and competence should be given preference. He however concluded that the people has the right in a democratic setting to agitate for participation in their own government.
“You cannot ignore the agitation of people to participate in their own government. It is just a usual way in influencing democracy to ensure that everybody is carried along.
“I believe that the South alongside with all the factors, they have the right to say yes it is our turn. But, the essential part is not just saying it is your turn but providing quality material to actually represent you in government and that is exactly what we are trying to do”.
Meanwhile, Olafeso has drawn comparison between the achievements of previous government in Ondo State and that of Arakunrin Akeredolu which he described as a child’s play. He said that the fact that Akeredolu had not recorded any major achievement in his over three years manifested in bringing President Buhari to commission the projects of preceding administrations.
“You know we saw the fact that during the visit of the president, there was nothing to actually show the president. Except things that had actually preceded him in Omotosho and in other places and that overhead bridge across Ore which is less than hundred meters compare to what happens in Ogun State and other places. This is just a child play”.
Olafeso also lamented the prostrate condition of the state’s economy which he blamed on the unbearable burden that is tasking the people to death. According to him, “The state is prostrate, the economy is not improving, people have been tasked to death. You may have to really claim that he is doing more in terms of IGR, but the honest truth is the fact that our people are being tasked to death”.
The PDP chieftain also lamented other collapsing sectors of Ondo which he said Akeredolu has failed to address in the last three years.
“Parents can no longer pay school fees, health is becoming a major issue, and if you look at what the previous government left behind you will see that Aketi has just barely touched or scratch the surface”, said Olafeso.
He also said that PDP administration in Ondo will work tirelessly to actualize the vision of the late Dr. Olusegun Agagu which was to open up the entire Ondo State for economic activities and to utilize the opportunity of diverting companies into Ondo State. That is the reason why that road from Iditala bridge over Alape river to Araromi and the Olokola industries and many of the things were merged so as to be able to attract business out of Lagos and Ogun States and develop the economic pace of this place.
Also, Olafeso has described Arakunrin Akeredolu as someone who is not mature enough to run a whole state having failed to unify his own political party.
“Another thing is the fact that if you cannot unify your party and all you do is to throw abuses and curses upon those competing with you, how can you be considered matured enough to run a whole state. Reasons for the failure, the disappointment of the citizens of this state cannot be far fetched. He said: “Aketi who failed woefully to unite his party, he cannot unite the state. And for us, we can do far far better”.
However, Dr. Eddy Olafeso has assured that he and his party were prepared to make a radical departure from poor performance as being witnessed now in Ondo State and restore sanity to governance in the State. According to him, “We are interested in ensuring that our human capital development is looked at appropriately. We want the schools to do well, We want to motivate teachers. We want to motivate civil servants. You cannot take glory for just paying salaries and saying you are doing very well. They are entitled to the job they have done anyway, why won’t you pay them”
He was however upbeat that it would not take the PDP much efforts to dislodge Akeredolu from government and send him to his home town. “As far as I am concerned, he has performed too far below mark that he is not going to take much for us to actually dislodge him and send him back to his home town,” added Olafeso.