Chief Sola Ebiseni, the Secretary General of Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has declared his intention to run in the 2024 governorship election in Ondo State, under the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying the election will be a defining moment for the state.
Ebiseni, a leading aspirant of the PDP in the state, who urged the people of the state to use track records of candidates to decide who to elect in the forthcoming governorship elections, said the election will shape the future of the state.
Ebiseni, while speaking to newsmen in Akure, the state capital, said with his wealth of experiences as a former council chairman and three-term Commissioner in the state, he has what it takes to turn around the state.
According to him, he ranked among the best who have governed the state, calling on the people of the state not to settle for less to move the state forward.
He said, “If you follow the trajectory of governance from the Ajasin era, our state, has had a rare privilege of being governed by governors who are not only intellectually suave, grounded in their chosen careers, thoroughly-bred and groomed in the ideology of the Awolowo school of thought which defines our Welfarist programmes with which our people and politics have been identified.
“Besides Ondo State are a very proud and having produced Ajasin, Adefarati, Agagu, Mimiko and Akeredolu who were and are men who gave our state delightful corporate image in the comity of governors must always strive, like one of the leaders of the party told me when I visited him on consultations, to maintain such standards.
“Development of our state also requires being fully acquainted with the territory and the people. Such knowledge affords the new manager the opportunity of the location of resources, creates wealth therefrom and fairly allocates the same without undue concentration in one or few places.
“From serving as an elected Local Government Chairman, to being Commissioner three times in the strategic Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources, we have comparative advantage in the knowledge of the state and the geopolitical distribution of its natural resources. These include oil and gas, forestry resources, economic crops, and solid minerals.”
He noted that “Diversification of the economy of the state from over-reliance on the federation account is the only means of getting out of the woods and must be prioritised.
“There is a creative way of developing our resources within the provisions of the Constitution.
“Certain social services which sets our state apart ideologically and which have been discontinued or totally abandoned must be resuscitated in terms of quality and affordable education and health services including the Mother and Child hospitals which will be fairly extended in the zones and many of such welfare programmes.
“It is a cheap petit-bourgeois mind-set to argue that the state cannot afford such existential programmes. I was privileged to be part of the team that accomplished this for the state.
“On the state of the nation, Ebiseni who was a delegate at the 2014 National Conference said his view in that regard and as the Secretary General of Afenifere is unhidden and we shall join forces with progressive forces for restructuring the Federation for true federalism.”
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