Great expectations as Ajimobi returns

There was no elaborate celebration after Oyo State
Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, won his re-election bid on
April 11, 2015. With the victory, Ajimobi became the
first governor to win a second term in the history of the
state. It was gathered that the lean purse of the state
informed the reason why the government did not
embark on an elaborate celebration of the victory.
A former aide to the governor, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity, told our correspondent that it
would i an expression of moral recklessness if a big
party was thrown when workers were owed salaries.
She said, “It would be immoral for the governor to
throw a big party or for his friends to plan a big party
for his second coming. What would they be celebrating
when the state has not paid its workers for two
months? The bureaucratic transition has taken place in
various government departments silently. We look
forward to a new administration.”
But the issue of workers’ salaries and retirees’ pensions
are not the only tasks the governor will face. During the
governorship campaign, Ajimobi’s opponents hammered
on the decline in the education sector, which saw the
state plunging to the 24th position in the overall
students’ performance in the 2014 West African Senior
School Certificate Examination in Nigeria. It was a poor
result for the state as it came last in the South-West
and ranked embarrassingly behind some of the North-
East states ravaged by terrorism.
At the time, the state Commissioner for Education, Prof.
Solomon Olaniyonu, absolved the state government of
blame, hinging his defence on the fact that the state
paid the students’ examination fees and provided
support for the schools in terms of educational facilities
and infrastructure. He blamed the poor performance on
the pupils, teachers and parents.
Before the election, and perhaps as a political gimmick,
the state employed about 5,000 teaching and non-
teaching officers with each of them employed to work
in their respective local governments. An opinion poll
conducted among a section of secondary school
principals and vice-principals showed that after this
system served its purpose of giving electoral victory to
the governor, it is unlikely to serve its primary purpose
of enhancing the quality of education in the state.
“The teachers were recruited at a time when the state
was struggling with the payment of its workers’
salaries. Why did the state not do this before the
campaign? The aim was to boost the governor’s
chances at the poll. I have no problem with that
anyway. My concern is the quality of the teachers; how
they were selected and whether they possess what the
education sector needs to improve in the state. We find
ourselves where we are today because education
policies are made to satisfy politicians and not the
pupils,” said a principal in one of the public schools
who gave his name only as Adetunji.
During his inaugural speech, which placed emphasis on
how the state would boost its revenue generation as a
step towards financial independence, Ajimobi provided
answers to the crisis in the education sector.
“We will take seriously the upgrade of schools to
functional, modern models of learning. Their physical
infrastructure will be ensured and our commitment to
the mental development of our children as well as the
upgrading of their teachers will be irrevocable,” said the
governor.
While there is no doubt about the need for education
reform in the state, the health sector should also be
looked into. Despite the government’s efforts to
improve the health sector, there are noticeable holes in
the area. Even some health workers in the government
hospitals attest to the fact that some basic
infrastructure and equipment are lacking in the
hospitals.
Investigations revealed that some of the hospitals have
inadequate oxygen supply. Because of the size of the
state and its large rural setting, there is a need to
extend health care delivery to the hinterland.
To tackle the challenges of extending health care
delivery to the rural people, the governor said in his
speech that a new approach would be adopted to
achieve excellence in the sector.
“We will rededicate ourselves to a health care
programme that is premised on qualitative health for a
greater number of people,” he said.
Despite the abundant natural resources in the state,
especially arable land, Oyo State has not maximally
utilised the resources for the development of the rural
areas to transform the state into the nation’s food
basket.
The people of the Oke Ogun area of the state are
largely farmers but despite the emergence of
mechanised farming several decades ago, most of the
farmers still use hoes and cutlasses. Instead of
profiting from cash crops, food crops thrive as most of
the harvests are consumed by the people due to lack of
storage facilities.
While providing answers to the many challenges facing
agricultural development in the state, Ajimobi said that
human capital development would be made the
cornerstone of his policies.
He said, “One of the cardinal points of our
administration will be the revitalisation and
development of agriculture and the agro-allied industry.
In a bid to achieve these, we will make human capital
development the cornerstone of our policies. Indeed,
each of our cardinal programmes shall be founded on a
solid superstructure that is fixated on human capital.
Thus, none of the programmes shall be executed
without firmly prefixing within them the quest to better
the lives of our people.”
But the victory of the governor is still being challenged
at the Oyo State Election Petitions Tribunal. Ajimobi’s
main rival and cousin, Rashidi Ladoja, has challenged
the governor’s victory at the tribunal. When asked why
he challenged the result of the election in court, Ladoja
said he had a body of evidence that he would present
before the tribunal.
Ladoja, who is also a former governor of the state,
maintained that he would rather present his evidence
before the tribunal than share it on the pages of
newspapers.
He said that he would reveal some dirty secrets about
the election, insisting that some electoral officers
engaged in sharp practices during the election. Ladoja,
who came second in the election, also said that rather
than celebrate Ajimobi’s victory, the state mourned the
result.
There are indications too that Ibadan elders are trying
to persuade Ladoja, who is an Ibadan high chief, to
concede defeat for the interest of the city.
In the meantime, politics in Oyo State is basically on
recess. All the secretariats of the various political
parties have remained closed while the one-storey
building secretariat of the Unity Party of Nigeria in the
Sango area of Ibadan has a big ‘To let’ banner
attached to it.
The state secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party
along Queen Elizabeth Road, Ibadan, no longer
witnesses huge crowds. In fact, except for the imposing
posters of its candidates in the last elections, it is hard
to believe that the building recently hosted a horde of
party supporters.
With its woeful performance in the state, the struggle
for dominance by its members is threatening the revival
of the party in the state. A few weeks ago, there were
strong indications that one of the party leaders called
for the expulsion of a former Minister of State for the
Federal Capital Territory, Jumoke Akinjide; Senator Ayo
Adeseun and some other prominent members of the
party, alleging that they should be blamed for the
party’s failure.
While the party’s wings appeared to have been clipped
in the state, a source said that some elders were
considering holding a meeting with former Governor
Adebayo Alao-Akala with the view to forming a merger
with his party, the Labour Party. Alao-Akala was the
LP’s governorship candidate after leaving the PDP in
December 2014 and he demonstrated his political
strength by winning massively in the Ogbomoso area
and also gaining considerable votes across the state.
While that was not enough for him to win the race, the
LP used his influence to win six seats in the state
House of Assembly while the PDP won nothing.
The belief among those making efforts to mediate in
the PDP’s rift is that the party would have won in the
state if Alao-Akala and others, who left in December
because of the struggle for the party’s various tickets,
had not gone. In an interview with our correspondent,
one of the party leaders, Lekan Balogun, warned that for
the party to rise from the ruins of defeat, it must be
ready to react positively to the defeat and do the right
things. He also said that a wrong notion about the real
situation of the party was sold to the national leaders
before the general election.
Apart from the silence of the party as an organisation,
its main figures have withdrawn from public glare.
Effort to get its governorship candidate, Teslim Folarin,
for an interview failed.
After weeks of silence, the Social Democratic Party
governorship candidate, Seyi Makinde, came out last
week to deny the rumour that he had quit politics. The
47-year-old businessman said he would meet his
supporters soon and decide on his next line of action.
Makinde also left the PDP in December and became the
SDP candidate. It is not clear if he will seek a stronger
platform to actualise his political ambition in 2019.
Despite losing the election, many still believe that the
young politician has a huge role to play in the politics
of the state. Some have even tipped him to emerge
victorious in 2019 provided that he contests on the
platform of a strong party.

BY OLUFEMI ATOYEBI