By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
As the race for the Chief Executive Officer of Ondo State draws closer, a front line aspirant, Dr Bode Ayorinde said that the incumbent governor, Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) has literally handed over his second tenure to the People Democratic Party (PDP) through bad governance and his anti-people policies.
Ayorinde, who was accompanied by his teaming supporters to submit his governorship Nomination and Expression of Interest forms at the PDP headquarters Abuja boasted that he is the highest employer of labour in Ondo state. He said that Ondo state has remained a Civil Service State after 40 years of creation due to the inability of the former governors to think out of the box and develop an economic super highway for the state.
He said, “My plans for Ondo state, as contained in my manifesto is the challenge that attracted me to run. The reason is that the rate of unemployment has reached an emergency situation. Unemployment is so high that several youths after NYSC start to ride Okada or engage in internet fraud. In fact the grandchildren of unemployment include rape, prostitution, kidnapping and others.
“Ondo state for 44 years old is a civil society state. No single industry employs 1000 in Ondo state. As I talked to you 13 years ago, I founded the first private university in Ondo state, Achievers University, by virtue of that I am the highest employers of labour. As an employer of labour, I know there is a crisis.
“So my plan is to turn Ondo state from a civil service state to an industrialized state. I promise my people every local government will have an industry to provide jobs for our people, create wealth and alleviate poverty. So that is the only interest I have. So if you ask me, agenda one is industrialization, number two is industrialization and number three is industrialization.
The aspirant disclosed the greatest undoing of the governor is that he abandoned the policies of the party that brought him to power and was hobnobbing with his political family, the “Aketi” group that has no agenda for the state.
“Akeredolu missed the road by allowing Aketi Team to run the government, instead of his political party. He is of APC, but those who worked for him during primary are called Aketi Team, so he could not detach himself from this team so that he will allow the party to run the affairs of the state.
“So he has naturally campaigned for the PDP to take over. In fact, his activities alone is enough to give power to PDP. Simply put, those who are supporting me and those who are supporting other aspirants, all of us are PDP.”
Ondo state primary election is slates in July while the election will taken place on the 10th of October.
