The People’s Democratic Party(PDP) governorship candidate for the June 18 poll in Ekiti State, Bisi Kolawole, has said that the high level of insecurity in the state has made it imperative for residents to reject the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Biodun Oyebanji, in the coming election.
Kolawole lamented that the frightening level of kidnapping and killings of residents had catapulted the state to the high pedestal of being rated as the least secured in the country, thereby driving away investors from the state.
The former commissioner and ex-member of the state House of Assembly added that he would emerge the most experienced to govern Ekiti if elected governor, saying none of the past and present governors parade his “intimidating” records.
The former PDP state chairman spoke in Ado-Ekiti, on Thursday while speaking with journalists ahead of the poll, where he described himself as the best to lead the state on account of his past records and experiences in governance.
According to him, “When you take off the Boko Haram zone, Ekiti is the least secured state. You can’t travel from Efon to Ado without fear. We have to revert to the time when Governor Ayodele Fayose reinvigorated the local hunters and tackled insecurity in Ekiti. Our Obas were being rendered ordinary with bandits shooting and kidnapping them for ransoms.”
Speaking about his experiences, Kolawole added, “I would emerge as the most experienced to be Ekiti governor if elected. Not Niyi Adebayo, not Kayode Fayemi, not even my political leader, Fayose, parade my credentials. None of them held any position before becoming governor.
“I am an indigenous politician who had participated in Ekiti politics in the last 16 years. None of the contestants has been an assembly member, councillor, supervisory councillor and commissioner. That shows that I would be the only governor in Ekiti that understands the executive and legislative arms.
“So, I am not rattled by Segun Oni’s Social Democratic Party. The third force had never made any remarkable difference in the Ekiti election as reflected in the elections of 2007, 2011 and 2014.
“Oni moving from one party to the other for him to be governor could best portray him as a mere political nomad.
“I am seeking this position with a strong pedigree as an ex-Legislator and ex-Commissioner. I am going to be people-centric. All my activities will be centred around the people. If your people can’t cheer you as a governor, you are just a mere visitor, stranger and expatriate.”
On the much-touted Fayose’s stomach infrastructure, Kolawole said he would promote and repackage the concept to make it a model for the delivery of democracy dividends to the populace.
Kolawole said his government would re-engage workers laid off by Fayemi, while also creating an enabling environment for youth to veer into farming.
He said it was worrisome that the government could not bail out some towns that have been in darkness for decades, promising to reconnect them to the national grid if given the mantle of leadership.
“Some towns in Ekiti East and Gbonyin LGAs have been in darkness for a decade. If Biodun Oyebanji could not solve the problem of electricity in his Ikogosi country home and Ipole after over three years as SSG would he now be able to solve some of the problems confronting Ekiti?” Kolawole asked.
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