The Peoples Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate in Oyo State, Engineer Seyi Makinde has said that he will not probe the incumbent governor of the state, Senator Abiola Ajimobi if he eventually becomes governor in 2019.
He disclosed that the people of Oyo State are ready to vote for him massively as plans to rig the March 2, 2019 election will amount to nothing.
Seyi Makinde, who disclosed this during an interview granted recently in Ibadan, noted that the people who will vote for him will not vote for him to probe or look into accounts, rather, to initiate policies that will turn their lives around for better.
The PDP candidate asked “what has President Muhammadu Buhari achieved ever since he has been probing people? He said that is why things are not working in the country as expected by the people.
Engineer Makinde expressed that if he eventually emerges as governor come 2019 election, he will not probe; he will rather be forward looking to do what the electorates expect him to do. He noted that he will not care about how bad the situation in the state is.
He cited an example of one of his investments, he said, “After all, I have invested in a company before I checked through it and discovered that lots of things are not in order, but instead of backing down on the business, I sat down and formulated 3-5 years’ plans to change the situation of the company and it worked, that is exactly what I will do in the case of Oyo State.”
Makinde also criticised the state government for choosing to construct and rehabilitate a few roads in the cities with billions of naira while neglecting 80% of rural and feeder roads particularly, the hinterland roads that serve as conveyors of farmers’ proceeds into the cities. He said he will never understand why any government will feel comfortable leaving the 65 kilometres Ibadan/Iseyin road and other agriculturally strategic roads in their present conditions for nearly 8 years.
On education, the PDP candidate said that tertiary institutions have never had it so bad; with constant strikes over unpaid salaries and acute underfunding. He said education must be given priority as it is the pillar of development and that the retrogression at LAUTECH should never be tolerated by any progressive government.
He reiterated that LAUTECH was the best State owned University in Nigeria, biggest employer of labour and the commercial hub in the large Ogbomoso community comprising of five local governments. So anything that affects the institution will have adverse effects on the entire populace in Ogbomosho land and beyond. He promised to clear all hurdles in the way of total ownership of the institution by Oyo State.
Makinde also described as myopic, the idea of setting aside a few schools and naming them model schools.
“When did we start to practice apartheid in our schools?” he queried. He said all the over 600 secondary schools should be model schools not in terms of structures but in the quality of education provided.
Packaged by Kunle Gazali
