Ondo 2024: Aiyedatiwa flattens opponent in governorship debate – Akinlosotu
The Governor of Ondo State and All Progressives Congress candidate in next week’s governorship election in the state, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, performed excellently well in governorship poll debate, trouncing his opponent and Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Agboola Ajayi.
The commissioner for Information, Wale Akinlosotu, who congratulated the governor for the superlative performance which left his opponent bewildered and making up with lies, took pride in Aiyedatiwa, who he said had taken governance to another level in the state in the last 10 months.
The 2024 Ondo State Governorship Election Debate organised by Channels Television and Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room pitched Aiyedatiwa of the APC against the PDP candidate, Agboola Ajayi, in Akure, the state capital, on Sunday night.
Akinlosotu, in a statement in Akure on Monday, described the debate as yet another opportunity for the governor to showcase his achievements across all sectors of the state economy, which he delivered to the satisfaction of all amid loud ovation from the gathering.
He stated, “The governor’s performance at the debate is a confirmation of the fact that APC has a good candidate, a reliable, tested and trusted candidate, who has proven his ability to deliver on promise and take the state to higher heights”.
The commissioner, who congratulated the APC for producing such a formidable gentleman and achiever par excellence as candidate, also hailed the people of the state for accepting his candidacy as demonstrated through the supports being given to the governor across the 18 local government areas of the state.
The commissioner listed some of Aiyedatiwa’s life-transforming achievements which had made him the beautiful bride in the November 16 election to include infrastructures development with the goal of making life easier for the people and attracting investment to the state in a bid to turn it to a fully industrialized state.
Akinlosotu said that Aiyedatiwa had breathed new life to the education sector through construction and rehabilitation of school buildings for conducive learning environment, provision of necessary amenities and instructional materials, payment of full WAEC fees, employment of 2000 teachers and training and retraining of teachers.
The commissioner also took pride in the governor’s achievements in the health sector including revamping and upgrading of the state’s healthcare infrastructure, the recent recruitment of health workers for PHCs in the 203 wards and the secondary health facilities in the 18 local government areas in the state, enhancement of doctors’ salaries to retain medical personnel and ensuring access to affordable healthcare though the the Orange Health Insurance Scheme (ORANGHIS).
Recall that at the debate on Sunday, Aiyedatiwa had sympathized with the opposition PDP for going into the poll with a depleted house.
Aiyedatiwa, who hinged the development on the achievements of APC government in the state, exuded confidence that he had the support of the people of Ondo State to win the November 16 election with clear margin based on his known “antecedents, fitness, integrity, character and performance in office.
The APC flagbearer, who expressed surprise that the PDP candidate and former deputy governor could tell lies with ease purportedly to score cheap political points, however, advised Ajayi to learn to say nothing but the truth.
Aiyedatiwa said, “I am so surprised that you (Ajayi) can’t say the truth to the public. By the time other people will find out some of these your lies, at the end of the day, it would not be to your own interest because the records are there for the whole people to check”.
The APC flagbearer gave the advice while debunking the PDP candidate’s allegations that the governor was spending N1.2b monthly as security vote and as well collected N1.2b from the state coffers on the eve of Edo State Governorship election.
The governor said, “There is nothing like that, I don’t know where he got his figures from, I have never drawn a security vote of up to N1.2b. Where? How? It is not true, it is all political lies.
“What he (Ajayi) is saying is not true, that is a lie. How can you say that I withdrew N1.2b on the eve of Edo election – was I the one contesting for the election? You don’t use security vote for election. You know it yourself, I don’t know why you are talking this way,” the governor berated Ajayi.
Aiyedatiwa said that Ondo State had been better under him in the last 10 months, hence members of the opposition parties were daily defecting to APC to ensure he continues in office beyond 2025.
He said that the people knew that “with my experience, training, exposure, integrity and character, I have more to offer the people of Ondo State in terms of good governance.
“There is nobody in PDP anymore. All the major political gladiators have left PDP to APC. They are already in APC. That is just it, you can fact-check all of these. All of them have moved to APC”.
The governor said that his achievements in office in the last 10 months which had endeared him to Ondo State people included his industrialisation drive, job creation initiatives, agricultural investment, Midas touch in the education sector, revolution in the health sector, inclusive governance style and unrivalled welfare package for workers, pensioners and the private sector among others as he pledged to do more.
While responding to a question on debt profile, Aiyedatiwa said, “Within the 10 months of my assumption of office, if you check the statistics, Ondo State is the second least of states with high debt profile. Since I came on board, we have not borrowed, and we don’t have the need to borrow for now”.
The governor, who said that he would build on the existing security network, safety of lives and property and the peace in the state, said that he established Amotekun Rangers from the existing Amotekun Corps for the border areas to ensure that the border towns where there were occasional incursion of criminals into the state were properly guarded against such.
He said that the security and prevailing peace in the state in addition to the infrastructures development had attracted investors to Ondo State, adding that the industrial park facilitated by his administration “has employed almost 4000 people of Ondo State origin where they produced ethanol from cassava to ethanol”.
The governor, who said that a cocoa processing factory in the state was producing about 7000 tonnes of cocoa every month, added that the administration was doing a lot to open up the rural areas “so that farm produce can be brought to the centre for factories for processing. That is one of the things we our doing already through Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project program”.
The governor said that the state government cleared lands of about 10,000 hectares at Jughere “to encourage our youths to go back to farming especially cocoa farming”, adding that investors were being attracted to the palm produce subsector.
According to him, JD Farms at Ore, one of the largest farm produce farmers currently operating in Ondo State, has employed over 3000 persons in the state, adding that the farm is trying to upgrade into milling and refinery to produce vegetable oil.
Aiyedatiwa assured the people of riverine area that he had engaged the Federal Government following which the Lekki, Lagos, Calabar Highway would pass through the area, adding, “We are going to reclaim land, we are going to protect it and give more land to the people”.
