The Coordinator, Anti-Corruption Group, Oyo and former National President, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Lanre Ogundipe has rejected the endorsement of Governor Abiola Ajimobi for the second term by some prominent citizens including traditional rulers.

Ogundipe in a statement in Ibadan on Sunday, said it wass alright for anybody who has been invited to “come and chop” to give millions of endorsements based on selfishness and lack of consideration for the larger society but those at the grass roots who are feeling the pinch of unemployment, destruction of their places of trade, illegal and mindless disengagement from job places know better and will speak with their votes when the time comes.

He recalled that few months ago when Governor  Ajimobi appointed a new set of commissioners, children of Alhaji Azeez Arisekola-Alao, Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Oladunni Oyewumi, Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi and Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Samuel Odulana were all prominent on the list.

 Whereas, he said each of the appointees were responsible citizens of Nigeria and Oyo State on their own right, the fact cannot be lost on discerning observers that they all made the list only courtesy of the positions that their parents occupy.

"And so, if any of these individuals who have been given undue consideration over other better qualified citizens begins to commend the governor for 'achieving excellent governance' which ordinary people are unable to see, we must not be surprised at all.

According to him, at a ceremony in Oyo recently, both Alaafin and Alao (Arisekola) assured Ajimobi of a second term in office because according to them, he had fulfilled his electoral promises. He said this blanket endorsement should suggest that the beneficiary had turned the State into an Eldorado.

"To be sure, we must respect the position of royal fathers and religious leaders. It is their duty to support and uphold any government in power. "Modern governance has reduced them to subordinates of elected politicians. It must however, be noted too that history has a way of repeating itself. At the beginning of the tenure of Otunba Christopher Alao Akala, the relationship between him and Alaafin was very rosy. "They were everywhere together but when the former governor attempted to assert himself, the relationship turned awry. The same is happening with the present governor," he said.

While noting that everybody was entitled to his opinion, he said because Ajimobi appointed only offspring of prominent citizens, the entire society must become satisfied?

He said many months after commissioning, neither Ajimobi nor his aides have explained the reason(s) for the astronomical cost of the Mokola flyover when compared with others across the country.