I will rule Oyo with the fear of God! – Alao Akala

Posted by: b3rrilyn in News Sep 5, 2014

Yesterday the former governor made his intentions known to the people of Oyo that he was ready to come back in 2015 after so much plea from them and from the elders of the state. He gave an account of how he ruled back then, and what he will be doing if voted in, come 2015. His speech;
Let me from the onset express my deep gratitude to the Almighty God, our Creator for making it possible for us all to witness this occasion. We remain eternally grateful to Him for His show of mercy, blessing and protection on us all in our respective endeavours. You will agree with me that a �lot of water has passed under the bridge” these past years and in spite of all odds, we remain undaunted, resolute and determined to stay together believing that together we shall reposition our great Pace Setter State to the overall joy and benefit of all.

My good people of Oyo State, in the last few months, I have received hundreds of telephone calls, thousands of text messages and personal visitations from all and sundry asking me to come out once again to contest for the post of the Governor of our dear Oyo State.
I must say that these past three years, I have had time to reflect on our performances as I believe many of you have. Did we satisfy the yearnings of the masses? As a government, did we provide the much needed succour for the people? Were the masses impressed by our people-oriented policies and programmes? it is indeed gratifying to note with a deep sense of modesty that we made positive impacts on the lives of the people, as attested to by the greater majority and also the International Community. The World Bank and the World Health Organization as well as the UBEC,CBN and the Federal Ministry of Transportation recognized our contributions by giving our government awards on our performances on Local Empowerment Programmes, Agriculture, Roads, Transportation, Education, Health and the Environment among several others.
I am convinced that while reflecting on our performance in government, the good people of the state were also watching and monitoring the performance of the present administration. As a matter of fact, they have been able to see the difference and compare notes in relation to our performances. One fact remains incontrovertible, ours was a governance with a human face while the present is characterized by anti-people policies as evidenced in the wanton destruction of means of livelihood; imposition of higher taxes; capital flight and outright dismissal of public servants on flimsy excuses.
Our government was characterized by friendly policies, people-oriented projects, accelerated commerce through micro-finance loans at zero % and without collateral, rural development, job creation, that is, by using home-based and local Contractors for minor and major contracts, opening of new roads in the rural areas ,release of grants to schools which enhanced educational development; respect for the work-force and job security for Public Servants. This is in addition to purchase of Skip-eaters for environmental sanitation; purchase of fully equipped ambulances, renovation of Public places, such as Mapo Hall, Atiba Hall, repositioning of BCOS with modern equipments and opening of radio stations in Ogbomoso and the Oke-Ogun axis. And more importantly, our administration established good and qualitative leadership as against the present situation where we now experience leadership of a Group Managing Director running State affairs as a Private enterprise.
We also embarked on major road construction in both the urban and rural areas where over 750 kilometers of roads were constructed or rehabilitated to facilitate easy access and enhanced smooth transportation. Indeed the 5kilometers of road per local government was designed to be a process whereby if it had been sustained, virtually all roads in our rural areas would be tarred by now.
This is addition to the renovation of the Adeoyo Hospital with modern equiptments, all the local governments had functional health facilities and we embarked on and completed the Teaching Hospital Complex in Ogbomoso. We also established the College of Agriculture, Igboora to boost Social- economic activities and provide employment in the Ibarapa Zone
I want to particularly mention major road construction in the Oke-Ogun area as it is the food basket of the State. Much emphasis was placed in this area as it had been neglected by past administrations until we intervened and our focus then, was to open up these areas to enhance transportation of agricultural products to the urban areas. We constructed and commissioned Sepeteri- Igboho road; Alaga-Saki road; Iganna � Iwere-Ile Samo Road; Ado Awaye-Ilua-Okeho road; Otu- Igbojaye Road and Saki- Ilesa- Baruba Road, amongst several others in the area.
By the special grace of God, our second coming will witness an all inclusive governance and qualitative leadership. We shall also consolidate on our previous achievements in the areas of Education, Health, Commerce and Agriculture. I make bold to state that every village and major town in Oyo State desire even development hence we shall continue with our policy of uplifting the rural areas as well as the urban centres with execution of people-oriented projects.
During my first tenure spanning 2007 to 2011, you will recall that our administration pursued a 13-point agenda and impacted positively on the masses of our darling state. Let me refresh your memories that the 13-point agenda then were: Good Governance; Sustainable Environment; Poverty Alleviation; Industrialization; Employment opportunities; Infrastructural Regeneration; International Trade; Water supply; Food for All/ Agriculture; Partnership; Education; Power and Security. I wish to humbly inform you that the aforementioned agenda will be re- enacted by our incoming administration pursued with renewed vigour, deep sense of responsibility and delivered proactively to every nook and cranny of the state. Towards this, a bottom-up approach that guarantees responsiveness to the yearnings of the populace shall be adopted which is the hallmark of good governance and leadership.
Inevitably we might have offended some people in our desire to make life better for the populace or in pursuit of equity and justice. None of our actions were deliberate or personal vendetta. I therefore seek your understanding and forgiveness. I call on all other aspirants, let us all work together to deliver this state to PDP, and never should anyone of us again throw out the baby with the bath water. When we form the next Government, We will run an inclusive government and respect the right of all party members.
I have heard the cries of market women whose shops were destroyed and means of livelihood taken away. I have listened to the agonies of Landlords whose houses were destroyed without compensation. I have seen many Civil Servants and top ranking officers of Government sacked ignominiously, but today I come to you with a message of hope and assurance of a better tomorrow . You shall be duly compensated and those unjustly sacked shall be reinstated. You all have seen how our rating in education has plummeted, with Government of the day struggling to pay our children’s WAEC fees. Before I left 3 years ago, we constructed over two thousand schools with two awards from Universal Basic Education, but today our children are learning under dilapidated classrooms.
Therefore on this day, and at this defining moment, I have listened to your appeals and accepted your requests and hereby offer myself to you in the name of God Almighty to contest under our great party PDP for the post of The Governor of Oyo State in 2015. I promise to rule with the fear of God.