Stakeholders from Ado Ekiti community have expressed their concern over the marginalization of their town especially as the capital city has not had the opportunity of producing the governor of Ekiti State.
Speaking at a stakeholder’s forum on Thursday at the Fajuyi Hall in Ado Ekiti, Chief Reuben Famuyibo condemned the role of previous administrations in Ekiti state for marginalizing Ado-Ekiti in the political scheme of those governing the state since its creation.
He said, “Ekiti governorship race is not all about one Senator or former Secretary to the State Government. The previous governments in Ekiti state have greatly marginalized the Ado Ekiti people. That is why many Ado Ekiti sons and daughters are not coming out to contest. As an Ado Ekiti indigene, I believe that we have been cheated.
“The last time an Ado Ekiti indigene was at the helm of affairs was during the Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi period as governor of the Western states. Ever since, those that have been governing us are all non-Ado Ekiti indigenes”.
He further pointed out that nobody other than the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejuyigbe can lay claim to have contributed immensely to the creation of Ekiti state, stating that the journey for the creation of the state started in his Ibadan home with over 60 monarchs to fine-tune the processes of creating the state.
He further lamented that those who did not pay any sacrifice and contributions are now the feasting on what few concerned indigenes labored to achieve.
He, however, urged Ado Ekiti residents and politicians to be united in order to have an opportunity of producing the governor of the state in the forthcoming election.
He said, “Ado Ekiti has the numerical strength to take over the state and govern it well. Ado Ekiti votes if combined together are more than that of the four or five local governments’ votes in the state. I believe Ado Ekiti being the landlord of other Ekiti towns and villages does not deserve to be deprived the position of the governor of the state for such a long time regardless of whether it is the state capital or not”.
In his own remarks, a gubernatorial aspirant under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Mr. Lateef Ajijola described politics as a game and the ability to influence positively at all level vowing that it is the right time for the people of Ado Ekiti to produce the governor of the state since the creation of the state over 25 years.
On the quest by the Ekiti south senatorial district agenda to govern the state, he said, “Everybody is free to agitate in politics. Politics is democracy and they believe they should have a fairer share if one of them also becomes the governor of the state”.
Speaking on behalf of the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Aladesanmi Adejuyigbe, Chief Sola Olarewaju, the Ejemu of Ado Ekiti urged Ado Ekiti indigenes to unite ahead of the 2022 gubernatorial election in the state.
He stated that the Ado Ekiti community has the human resources to develop the state while urging the Ado Ekiti political stakeholders to bridge the gap between them and unite regardless of political affiliations.
Packaged By Emmanuel Adeniran
