Oyo State Gov. Senator Ajimobi
From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
OYO State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has promised for the first time in the last four years to conduct local government elections in the state early next year.
He made the promise in Ibadan yesterday in a chat with journalists after he delivered a lecture entitled: Challenges of Good Governance in an Emerging Democratic Setting: The Nigerian Perspective, which kick-started the 67th convocation of the University of Ibadan.
The opposition political parties in the state had on several occasions lashed Ajimobi for his refusal to conduct council election throughout his first term in office from 2011 to 2015. The opposition had said that Ajimobi was afraid that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) might not win several of the 33 local government areas of the state, thereby creating serious problems for his bid for second term in office.
Ajimobi, who stated that the council election was delayed for him to see the outcome of the 2015 governorship poll in the state, assured that there would be no further impediments to the conduct of the election, “ and now that we have seen it (outcome of the 2015 general elections), I can assure you that in the next couple of weeks, something will be done.
“I wanted to avoid Christmas gift. I was thinking that in December, we would start gathering our local government chairmen. But I can tell you that immediately after then, there would be election.
“We believe most sincerely in the local government and we are going to conduct chairmanship election into it soon.”
Ajimobi, however, stated that caretaker committees would be put in place for the 33 local government areas of the state any moment from now.
But the governor also dismissed the insinuation that his administration refused to conduct the poll because he was afraid of failure.
He explained that the outcome of this year’s general elections showed that the generality of the state still prefer APC to other parties in the state.
“We are not afraid of the opposition taking over. We won the election. So, how can the opposition take over? If you look at the result, where will they take over? If you take the whole of Ibadan and less city election, we won. When you go to Oke Ogun, we won; when you go to Ibarapa, we won; when you go to Oyo, we won. Ogbomoso is the only place where we did not win, but we came second. So, where will they take over? It is not possible”, he stressed.
OYO State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has promised for the first time in the last four years to conduct local government elections in the state early next year.
He made the promise in Ibadan yesterday in a chat with journalists after he delivered a lecture entitled: Challenges of Good Governance in an Emerging Democratic Setting: The Nigerian Perspective, which kick-started the 67th convocation of the University of Ibadan.
The opposition political parties in the state had on several occasions lashed Ajimobi for his refusal to conduct council election throughout his first term in office from 2011 to 2015. The opposition had said that Ajimobi was afraid that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) might not win several of the 33 local government areas of the state, thereby creating serious problems for his bid for second term in office.
Ajimobi, who stated that the council election was delayed for him to see the outcome of the 2015 governorship poll in the state, assured that there would be no further impediments to the conduct of the election, “ and now that we have seen it (outcome of the 2015 general elections), I can assure you that in the next couple of weeks, something will be done.
“I wanted to avoid Christmas gift. I was thinking that in December, we would start gathering our local government chairmen. But I can tell you that immediately after then, there would be election.
“We believe most sincerely in the local government and we are going to conduct chairmanship election into it soon.”
Ajimobi, however, stated that caretaker committees would be put in place for the 33 local government areas of the state any moment from now.
But the governor also dismissed the insinuation that his administration refused to conduct the poll because he was afraid of failure.
He explained that the outcome of this year’s general elections showed that the generality of the state still prefer APC to other parties in the state.
“We are not afraid of the opposition taking over. We won the election. So, how can the opposition take over? If you look at the result, where will they take over? If you take the whole of Ibadan and less city election, we won. When you go to Oke Ogun, we won; when you go to Ibarapa, we won; when you go to Oyo, we won. Ogbomoso is the only place where we did not win, but we came second. So, where will they take over? It is not possible”, he stressed.
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