As the 8-year tenure of the Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi gradually draws to an end, the race for a successor is set to commence in earnest as interested candidates have begun to declare their intentions to run for the number one seat in the state. One of such is Honourable Abiodun Dada Awoleye.

Hon Awoleye, a member of the Federal House of Representatives, representing Ibadan North Constituency, on Monday 29th May declared his intention to run for Oyo State Governorship position come 2019 during the Special Democracy Day Edition of the South West Group of Online Publishers’ (SWEGOP) media chat held at CEOAfrica building in Ibadan.

 * Hon Abiodun Awoleye (2nd Left) with the SWEGOP Panel during the Special Democracy Day Edition of the SWEGOP Media Chat

The Former Oyo State House of Assembly member stated that as a staunch member of the ruling party in the state, he will be running on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), adding that he is certain of the support of Governor Ajimobi.

Awoleye said “Contesting for the Governor of Oyo State is not something that was thought of today. I had always had the ambition to run and 2019 is the opportunity to run. In 2016, a lot of people called on me to run for the governorship position and I want to honour their call.”

Speaking about his selling points as a candidate for the apex seat in Oyo state, the two-time House of Rep member said “I am aware that there are many others interested in running for the governorship position but I can tell you that there is none of them that can rate at par with me. It is not possible to get the support of the people if you have no relationship with the grass root. I am a grass root politician; I am very close to the people and I relate well with them.

“Besides, many of these people who have indicated interest to run have no deep ties with the party. They believe they can just come with their money and hand twist people to get to power but it is not possible. Among those that have declared their intentions, I am the only one who knows the intricacies and the ideology of APC. Not many of them know the ideology of the party.

“I have been with the party from the very beginning and I have never decamped to another party. People trust Abiodun Awoleye and I believe I am the best candidate to do the job of the Governor come 2019. I am aware that many of the other candidates are going around touting that Ajimobi is supporting them, which is wrong. I am sure that the Governor will give each of us equal chances to garner our support, so I am not afraid of anyone,” he stressed.

  * Hon Abiodun Awoleye, member of the Federal House of Representatives

Hon Awoleye stated that he has been able to achieve a lot for his constituency in his capacity as a member of the lower chamber which has endeared him to the people in the grass roots. He listed some of his constituency projects to include drilling boreholes, providing transformers, providing ICT centres, Healthcare centres, among others.        

While noting that Oyo state is the pacesetter state, Hon Awoleye expounded that his focus and his agenda if he is elected governor will be the rapid development of the state. “The tag of my focus is that Oyo must continue to develop. Oyo is the pacesetter; Oyo is the state with the first skyscraper, the premier University and it is the capital city of the South West. For this reason, my desire is to make sure Oyo continues to be the pacesetter in every aspect.

Still expounding on his campaign agenda, Hon Awoleye stressed that his main areas of focus include; agricultural development, vocation and skill acquisition, improvement in the education and health care systems, tourism, among others.

His words: “My focus is on how we can use agriculture to drive the economy, improve the education sector as well as the health sector. Another aspect that I want to give serious attention to is vocational training and skill acquisition. Considering the poor state of the economy, we have to focus on being self-employed and self-reliant.

Tourism is another aspect I want to give attention to. In the UK, tourism is their major source of revenue. Tourism in Oyo state is practically none-existent apart from Agodi Gardens which the current administration resuscitated. So, we have to develop tourism in the state so as to bring in more revenue,” he said

Asked if he could run the state without Federal Allocation, Hon Awoleye responded “In a country that operates a federal system like ours, it is difficult to run the state without some allocation from the federal level. However, this is the reason why we have to look inwards to generate our own revenue.

“That is the reason why I am emphasising on revitalising the agricultural sector, building the tourism as well as focusing on vocational training so that we can generate more revenue and be self-sufficient as a state. Also, there is need to pay tax. We need to pay tax in Oyo state because we need money to run the state,” he stressed.

  * Hon Abiodun Awoleye (M) fanked by SWEGOP Members

When asked about his opinion of having a candidate from Oke-Ogun emerge as the governor, Awoleye replied that he believes in equality of rights. He said “Every part of the state is qualified to contest. I respect the people of Oke-Ogun and I am receiving massive support from them. If I am elected governor, I will provide equality to everyone which has never happened before.”

Assessing the administration of Governor Ajimobi in the last six years, Hon Awoleye commended the efforts of the governor so far, noting that he has performed fairly well. “Ajimobi has performed more than all the past governors in this state. He has provided good roads in many parts of the state and there are still more to be done.

“I commend his efforts so far, especially in his first term; however, his efforts in his second term were slightly stalled because of inadequate resources. But on the overall, he has performed fairly well,” he acknowledged.