Gubernatorial candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in the 2019 general elections in Oyo State, Oloye Adebayo Adelabu has declared that his will to serve the people of Oyo make him to resigned as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Adelabu made this assertion while addressing members of the Oyo state Oil and Gas Stakeholders Association in Ibadan, the state capital Tuesday evening.
The meeting which was facilitated by the Jericho Businessmen Club, also had in attendance leaders of the club led by Mogaji Remi Babalola, Mr. Bola Jaiyeola, Mogaji Taiwo Akande, Barrister Bayo Adepoju and Mr. Abiodun Yusuff.
The oil and gas stakeholders were led to the meeting by National President of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), Otunba Salmon Oladiti, Chairman of Ibadan Unit of the PTD, Elder Kehinde Babalola, Chairman of Ibadan unit of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Alhaji Raheem Tayo, and Chairman of Ibadan unit of the Independent Marketers Board (IMB), Alhaji Taofeek Akinyosoye.
Adelabu while speaking said that many people after they learn that he had resigned from CBN thought he was actually mad, but his determination to serve the people of the state and his love for the state made him to resign from CBN.
He said, “People thought that I was mad when I resigned as the Deputy Governor of CBN. My determination to serve my people made me to resign, my love for Oyo state and the masses made me to resign. I love Oyo state, and my intention is to get closer to my people”.
The APC candidate said that he is not coming into politics to make money, but to touch the lives of the masses of the state, as his late grandfather, late Adegoke Adelabu, used to do during his lifetime.
“If I am after money, I should not have resigned my appointment as the Deputy Governor of CBN. My mission is the renewal of my family’s good name. I have benefitted a lot from my grandfather’s good name. I must also leave a good name for my own children and grandchildren”.
Adelabu maintained further that his love for Ibadan and Oyo state made him to resign as the Deputy Governor of CBN to join the 2019 governorship race in the state on the platform of the ruling APC, promising to remove status discrimination among the citizens if elected.
He added that, “I never spent a weekend in Abuja throughout the period of four years and three months I spent as the Deputy Governor of CBN. There are 52 weekends in a year, and about 208 in four years. I always came to spend my weekends in Ibadan because of the passion that I have for my state “.
Oladiti while speaking revealed that the oil and gas stakeholders decided to support Adelabu for him to build on the good foundation already laid by incumbent Governor Abiola Ajimobi of the state, saying that the association always support politicians who have the love of masses at heart.
While noting that no governor had performed like Governor Ajimobi in Oyo state since 1999, the PTD National President declared that the state deserves continuity like Lagos state.
According to him, “successive administrations in Lagos state have continued to build on the solid foundation laid by former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Governor Ajimobi has laid a good and solid foundation for the socioeconomic and political development of Oyo state. Oyo state deserves continuity like Lagos state. We need a governor who will build on the foundation laid by Ajimobi.
“We should not go back to Egypt, and that is the reason why we have decided to support Adelabu Penkelemesi. We are doing this because of the faith we have in his ability and credibility. He had served in both private and public sectors of the banking industry. He used his position of the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to bring development to Oyo state”.