The outspoken Governor of Oyo state, Abiola Ajimobi is currently in the media again with his words of audacity.
Earlier this year, his words “Your school being locked for eight months is no big deal. Is your school the first to be locked, if this is how you will come to talk to me, go and do your worst, I dare you” were what brought the second termed Constituted Authority to the limelight while he was responding to students of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) as they staged protest on their school’s closure.
Yesterday, 29th May, 2017, the Democracy Day which doubled as the sixth anniversary of Governor Ajimobi in office, the governor made some controversial assertions at the interactive session with newsmen in commemoration of his years in power
Read below five of the controversial statements:
Although the Oyo state chapter of Accord Party, an opposition termed Ajimobi’s led APC government as a monumental failure, Governor Ajimobi said:
#1: “Oyo is one of the best managed states financially. I am also the most prudent governor in Nigeria.
“Our achievements are very glaring for the people to see”
On the contrary, the state is finding it arduous to pay LAUTECH staffs their outstanding nine months salaries but yet fund the establishment of a N2.4 billion Technical University out of the monthly federal allocation of N2.5 billion naira.
Cuing as the second vibrating statement of His Excellency was on the 2019 Gubernatorial election. Out of thirty-four aspirants jostling for the seat from the All Progressives Party and many others from the opposition parties, Ajimobi said:
#2: “I have seen about five people who have the potential to succeed me. I will let you know whoever will be my successor by May next year”
As the governor wraps up his tenure with ‘prudence’ in the next two years, he has indicated a tendency to return to the Senate although he had been severally found refuting to contest any political position after serving as governor in the time past.
#3: “I might consider legislative duties (next). I have been there before (as a senator) but it depends on some things I am looking at”, he said.
He was the former Deputy Minority Whip of the Upper chamber from 2003 to 2007 under the platform of Alliance for Democracy, AD.
Marking as the fourth, the Governor also suggested fiscal federalism which will allow the federating units (states) to control their resources.
Consenting to state police, he said:
“We need restructuring. Let us come together and choose our representativeness that will protect us.”
On the state controlling their resources, he also said:
“Fundamentally, we need financial restructuring. The federal exclusive list should be reviewed. It is difficult to say five out of the 36 states are viable without federal allocation. We are not viable. If a state cannot pay salary, provide infrastructure, it is not viable.”
Scaling as the fifth, Governor Ajimobi spoke about the controversial Olubadan Chieftaincy panel despite the warnings of his one time governorship opponent, former Governor Adewolu Ladoja on meddling into such affairs.
The Governor said:
#5: “for things to improve, we must change. Both tradition and culture must change with time. People are politicizing it, it is understandable.”
However, as his words during the LAUTECH students’ protest in January went viral, these words have also continued to trail the media while some of them will still hunt him even after his expiration as the Governor of the state in 2019.
