Ondo Guber: Afenifere chieftain joins race
The Secretary General of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Chief Sole Ebiseni, has declared his intention to contest the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo State.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had fixed the governorship poll for November 16, 2024.
Ebiseni, who defected to the Peoples Democratic Party recently, said this year’s governorship election was going to be a defining moment for the state.
Speaking in Akure, the state capital, on Thursday, the lawyer said the state needed a person who was properly grounded and had full knowledge of the state.
He said, “First and foremost, if you follow the trajectory of governance from the Ajasin era, our state, has had a rare privilege of being governed by governors who are not only intellectually suave, grounded in their chosen carriers, thoroughly bred and groomed in the ideology of the Awolowo school of thought which defines our welfarist programmes with which our people and politics have been identified.
“Besides Ondo State is very proud and has produced Ajasin, Adefarati, Agagu, Mimiko and Akeredolu who were and are men who gave our state a delightful corporate image in the comity of governors. As one of the leaders of the party told me when I visited him on consultations, we must always strive to maintain such standards.
“Development of our state also requires being fully acquainted with the territory and the people. Such knowledge affords the new manager the opportunity of the location of resources, creates wealth therefrom and fairly allocate same without undue concentration in one or few places.”
Ebiseni, claimed to have a comparative advantage over other contestants in the race, in the knowledge of the state, having served as a council chairman and three times commissioner in the state.
He said the diversification of the economy of the state from over-reliance on federal allocation, would be given top priority.
“Certain social services which set our state apart ideologically and which have been discontinued or abandoned must be resuscitated in terms of quality and affordable education and health services including the Mother and Child Hospitals which will be fairly extended in the zones and many of such welfare programmes.
“It is a cheap petit-bourgeois mindset to argue that the state cannot afford such existential programmes. I was privileged to be part of the team that accomplished this for the state, ‘ the Afenifere chieftain stated.