INDIGENES of Oke Ogun zone of Oyo state, have noted that the dream of the zone to produce the next governor of Oyo state may be jeopardised if they failed to shun personal interests for the zone’s aspiration and moved away from the culture of denigration of one another.
The indigenes who spoke at a symposium on leadership and development of Oke Ogun region, at Iseyin city town hall, decried that the failure and unwillingness of her leaders to rise above personal ego and aggrandizement were responsible for the inability of the zone to present a formidable candidate to contest for the governorship in the 2019 election.
One of the speakers at the event, Honourable Kola Olabiyi, a former representative of Iseyin/Kajola/Itesiwaju Federal Constituency of Oyo state, remarked that until the zone is not nipped in the bud of a leadership crisis and mutual distrust, the zone may once again not achieve its desire to produce the next governor of the state.
According to Olabiyi, poor political representation at the local, state and federal government resulted in the underdevelopment of the region over the years.
He decried divisions among the people of the zone, personal interest and self-glorification as overshadowing the process of the emergence of an indigene of the zone as governor since 1999.
Speaking in the same vein, a former member of the Oyo House of Assembly, Honourable Fatai Salam said the region had to stop derision of the potentials and abilities of personalities and end being the apostle of other zones.
Salam added that Oke Ogun indigenes must also be ready to uplift its potentials and resources without having to wait for handouts and leadership from other zones of the state.
He, therefore, harped on the need for the people to abandon political ego and rather collectively identify and queue behind value-driven leaders, who have demonstrated their leadership qualities based on ethical values.
Another speaker, Mr Dimeji Olona bemoaned the docility of the people to ask their representatives to regularly give an account of their stewardship, though he noted that representatives must ensure that their plans are in tandem with those of their parties.
Olona charged leaders of Oke Ogun region to develop a master plan for Oke Ogun to guide representatives to attend to the desires of the people to include the tertiary institution, better-equipped hospitals and schools, manufacturing industries, agricultural research institutes and potable water.
Olona enjoined political parties to educate the populace on what the manifesto of a particular party contains, while he prayed for the development of the capacity of local government employees to deliver people driven programmes.
