I believe Oyo people’ll send me on the errand of serving them as gov —Debo Adesina

Mr Debo Adesina, a former Editor with the Guardian Newspaper, is one of the aspirants seeking to govern Oyo State in 2019. He speaks on the clamour by Oke-Ogun to produce the next governor of Oyo State and why the people should choose him.

THE people of Oke-Ogun have been clamouring to produce the governor of the state for the first time in the 43 years history of Oyo State, but some people have argued that the call for zoning is against the spirit of merit. What is your take on this view?

I sincerely believe that there are many people in Oke-Ogun who merit the position of governor and are just as qualified, if not more qualified, than other persons from other zones. That is the first thing we should establish; that even though we are saying that Oke-Ogun should be allowed to produce the next governor of Oyo State, merit should not be secondary.

There is the fear that even within Oke-Ogun, a time might come that you will not be able to unite to present a common candidate and that will jeopardise the chances of the zone.

I don’t think that will happen. Why did I say that? The truth of the matter is that democracy is such a beautiful game; it has certain majesty without having a royalty—it is the people who always choose those who will lead and represent them. At the end of the day, merit will matter, character and integrity will matter. It is not about money; it is not about number, it is about who is going to be the best representative of the people. As far as I am concerned, the idea of aspirants or contenders or candidates, I don’t think it is very important right now, what matters most is the people themselves saying this is the person we want to send on this errand. Being a governor is an errand, you are an employee of the people and I am sure that at the end of the day that our people will look around and decide on who they want to send.

Why do you want the people to send you?

I want them to send me; I wish that they will send me not because I am the best qualified in terms of education, or because I am the most handsome, but because I have a strong belief that they need a servant now who can deliver most and I am sure I am that servant. On account of my pedigree, on account of how far I have come in life, on account of my vision for Oyo State, not for Oke-Ogun alone and on account of the ideas that I have, I sincerely believe the people will choose me to run that errand for them.