The guber polls is just weeks away,and already five strong contenders
have emerged after primaries were conducted or consensus candidates
picked by the various political parties in Oyo state. We have the
incumbent; Abiola Ajimobi(apc),Teslim Folarin (pdp),Rasheed Ladoja
(Accord party),Alao Akala(Labour party) and Seyi Makinde(Sdp).
The incumbent,that is,Abiola Ajimobi is my major focus here. It has
been widely acknowledged by many residents in the state that oyo state
witnessed a massive face lift;most especially in Ibadan the state
capital. It witnessed the construction of the mokola fly
over,dualization of roads within and leading out of the city centre
with beautiful traffic lights and sign posts erected at strategic
points,attempts were made to make the state clean by the introduction
of weekly and monthly sanitization exercise,construction of modern
markets,demolition of illegal structures and markets close to major
roads.
Well,many argue that the face lift came at a huge cost to many
residents who lost their means of livelihood to the exercise as
provision wasn't made for their relocation before the demolition of
structures commenced. It is often posited that the government of
ajimobi should have embarked on the exercise with a human face though
it later tried to reverse the effects of the demolition by providing
alternatives but it was a belated move.
In spite of the discontentment arising from the fall out of some of
the policies of ajimobi's government,the incumbent is still the one to
beat as he has gotten quite a number of achievements to boast of
though his journey to getting reelected is not as easy as it seems.
There's this second term jinx that ajimobi's predecessors have not
been able to break. Added to this is the fall out of his face lift
efforts which has caused disaffection between some market people
affected,and many have vowed never to vote for him again. Some
workers,especially teachers are not very happy with him as they claim
they weren't treated well under his dispensation. Also,there's is this
general perception that money didn't quite flow to the masses under an
ajimobi era compared with previous administrations in the state. Some
even argue that some of the roads rehabilitated or constructed by
ajimobi's government were substandard as some even failed within a
year of construction. Some of the road projects were even neglected
and abandoned,a typical example is the ijokodo-apete road where three
bridges under construction were not completed since three years it has
been embarked on with no certain date as to when it will be completed.
Industrialization efforts were a bit on the low under an ajimobi;other
than some shopping malls that sprung up in the capital,we have not
seen new industries being set up. His government's response to youth
unemployment was the setting up of the YES O scheme which employed
some graduates;paying them a paltry ten thousand naira monthly. Even
so,the scheme has been stopped for some months now over complaints
that the recruits of the scheme have been harassing innocent citizens.
Expectedly,the failings of ajimobi's government is what will be
capitalized upon by his opponents; of which two are also former
governors who have quite a number of sympathizers and supporters who
wished to relive what life used to be under these candidates angling
to come back.
It is left to be seen if an ajimobi will surmount the obstacles he has
to face to achieve his second term ambition,but if you ask me,I'd say
he stands a very good chance of winning a second time
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