BY ALIYKAL LANRE
First and foremost, let me congratulate the Osun State governor-elect, Mr. Jackson Ademola Adeleke (Dancing Senator) for his victory in the just- concluded governorship election in the State of Osun.
The people have decided who to steer the boat of the state in the next four years. The dancing Senator has won the election, and it is now left for him to do well or bad, if he can surpass the incumbent administration of Governor Gboyega Isiaka Oyetola, let him be.
And for Governor Oyetola, he should accept defeat as a will of God almighty, also as a good Muslim, he should have it in mind that, it is only Allãh that enthrones the kings and dethrones them as well, he should please, congratulate the winner of the election and let’s move on with our faith.
Back here in Ogun State, it is a matter of urgency and fact that the Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun should be getting ready and start preparing his handover note for the next governor.
The Osun State election should be a lesson for those power intoxicating Governors, Senators, Representatives, Assembly members that think that they could use power of incumbency to rig election. Indeed, this is a clarion call and a signal to the Governor Abiodun-led administration.
Dapo Abiodun has absolute confidence in himself and the members of his cabinet that are pushing him here and there. Imagine a sitting governor that is not liked or loved by his workers, members of the public and others.
With due respect, Dapo Abiodun is not a workers’ friendly governor because he used to underrate the workers. Dapo Abiodun will be gnashing his teeth in the incoming elections in Ogun State.
What happened in Osun State will surely happen here in Ogun State, because Abiodun’s administration is always paying lip service to the development of the state.
The masses are tired of his lies, and he has betrayed the confidence the people reposed in him. He should start packing his loads from the government office in Oke-Mosan and the state in general.
He should be reminded that after more than three years in office, he has done nothing tangible to better the living standard of the entire Ogun State indigenes.
All the promises he made during his electioneering campaigns have not been fulfilled, the entire workers are wallowing in abject poverty. Motorists and commuters are still complaining about dilapidated roads. The market women and men are also grumbling about the high cost of living, taxes and double taxation.
I was in Abeokuta last weekend. The people were lamenting about bad roads, especially during the raining season. Hundreds of people were stranded at the different bus-stops. In fact, I was forced to convey some passengers from Kuto, Lafenwa to their various destinations. I was told that it was the works and infrastructures put in place by the last administration of Senator Ibikunle Amosun that they are enjoying and appreciating now.
I was heading towards the Federal Housing Estate at Olomore. To my surprise, the road is still in shambles and unmotorable. Those plying the road were cursing the governor for compounding their plights and predicaments.
I could remember that the governor wanted to repair the road but he has worsened the situation. Olomore has become a deserted area for the motorists and commuters.
Let him tell the world what he is doing with taxpayers’ money of the state. In more than three years he could not complete a two-kilometer of road at Olomore. Why not leave it the way it was before?
Go and ask the people living in Ijoko, Alagbole, Akute, Agbado, Papa, Ifo and their environs, how they are managing to ply their roads and you will realize that the governor is doing them more damage with the level of their bad roads.
Likewise too, those living in Lafenwa, Brewery, Abule-Otun, Ijeun Tuntun, Ijeun Lukosi and many others in Abeokuta metropolis are groaning in pains. Governor Abiodun should do something to those roads before they consume his re-election bid.
The people are now saying that “Dapo lo’kan, lo’ma lu’le” meaning, it is Dapo Abiodun to fall next in Ogun State.
Imagine for the first time in many years, the people of Ijebuland celebrated Ojude Oba Festival with extreme worsen condition of link roads.
In fact, during the inglorious days of Ibikunle Amosun, roads in Ijebu-Ode in particular were given palliative attentions, and this gives easy access during the period.
Let me ask Mr. Governor what is the latest on the popular Molipa expressway which your administration started with the admiration of the people almost two years back? What about Ondo, Oke-Aje/Ilese raods, Igbeba roads? What is your administration doing to alleviate the sufferings of the motorists and commuters plying these roads? Or are they not paying their taxes?
Mr. Governor, mind you, I personally wish you a successful tenure, I mean a single tenure like former Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode and Osun State Governor, Gboyega Isiaka Oyetola, because it seems that some of the people around you are not allowing you to feel the pulse of the people you are governing.
It is time for Governor Dapo Abiodun to join the retired governors that did a single term in persons of Ambode and Oyetola of APC, because the people of Ogun State will speak with their votes in 2023, as they did to his Osun State counterpart recently. If you like do good, if you like do otherwise, when it is time of voting, the people will justify your good deeds and bad through their votes.
Now, the Ogun peoples’ anthem is “Dapo Ma’lule lo’Ogun.
Lanre, a journalist, public commentator and writer, writes from Ketu Alapere, Lagos State, Nigeria. He can be reached via aliykhallanre@gmail.com
