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Legal luminary, Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN), has revealed what he would do if he fails to secure the Oyo State governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2019 general elections.
Akintola spoke during an interview on Impact Business Radio (IBR) in Ibadan over the weekend.
He said that part of what he wants to do as governor is to sustain Ajimobi’s legacies.
The senior lawyer stated that Ajimobi has raised the bar of governance and politics in the state, and failure to sustain his legacies and build on them will take the state back to the dark days of violence and amala politics.
Akintola stated that he was not afraid of the race because he has paid his dues in progressives fold, adding that none of his fellow aspirants could match his progressive credentials.
He however added that should he fail to secure the ticket, he would gladly return to his legal practice because “the contest is not a do-or-die race”.
His words: “Say what you like against Governor Ajimobi. He has raised the bar of governance in the state. Gone are the days it was a government of the illiterates, by the illiterates for the enlightened in the state. That has stopped.
“We are now running a government of the enlightened, by the enlightened and for the enlightened. Can people walk the streets freely like they are doing now some seven years ago? That Ajimobi was able to bring back peace is his biggest achievement
“Today, everybody wants to live and die in Lagos because Senator Bola Tinubu set the template and laid the foundations for the development of Lagos. Babatunde Fashola built on it and Akinwunmi Ambode is sustaining it. We need to replicate this in Oyo State.
“In infrastructural development, you can only compare Ajimobi with the David Jemibewon regime. Jemibewon built Adamasingba, Agbowo Shopping Complex, Ring Road, flyovers at Molete and the Secretariat and may more.
“Ajimobi has replicated all these. He has set a template and that is why there is an array of competent people coming out to contest.”
On the clamour for power shift to the Oke-Ogun zone of the state, Akintola argued that Oyo State indigenes are interrelated in several ways that argument about power shift from one zone to another cannot is invalid.
The agitations for power shift are meant for the ill-informed, he stated, adding that personality of candidates will play a stronger role than party affiliation in the forthcoming governorship election in Oyo State.