I will be a better replacement for Akeredolu in Ondo – PDP aspirant

A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in Ondo State, Olusola Ebiseni has assured the people of Ondo state that he will provide better governance than the outgoing governor, Rotimi Akeredolu if given the mandate to lead the state in the October 10 governorship election.

He said the people have suffered neglect in the hands of the Akeredolu – led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration and that the governor had detached himself from the governed.

Ebiseni, a former local government chairman and commissioner in the state said he is ready to return government back to the people at the grassroots.

The aspirant who also contested PDP governorship primary in 2016 spoke with journalists on Monday after obtaining the PDP expression of intetest and nomination forms at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja.

Speaking on Akeredolu, he said ” I will tell you frankly, that one of the problems of the incumbent governor of Ondo state, is that he is completely detached from the people. The leadership of the government are not ordinary players in the politics of the state. Not so much knowledge of the people do they have.

“Before this administration came in, Ondo state University charged the least school fees, even less than federal government institutions, but this government increase beyond the affordability and capability of the ordinary parents.

“We are virtually a peasant State as it were and there are so many things we cherish. We can not afford to commercialize education in our state. We can not afford to consign women to a death sentence because they want to deliver babies.

“What this administration inherited was a mother and child care, when a woman walks into the hospital, even with cesarean operation you will deliver freely, without paying anything. All of these have been commercialized, our women are now made to patronized quacks with unnecessary fatalities.

“So we intend to return to a situation where people will begin to have value for the government they had voted into power. We also intend to communicate directly with the people because we know the people and the people know that we know them.

Rolling out his programmes and vision for Ondo state, Ebiseni promised to rebuild the economy base of the state leveraging on abundant natural resources like bitumen and petroleum.

“What would I do differently, I told you I have served as commissioner three terms, I have served as chairman of local government, but I have not been the captain of the ship. What I will do differently, is to move the state economically from a civil service state, in terms of economic status.

“Notwithstanding the fact that we are an oil-producing state, that does not reflect in the economy of the state. How then do we intend to take advantage of our God-given natural resources? In other to enlarge the economy and diversify opportunities for our people.

“Yes, the government in the past have made proposals, which we have been part of and which we intend to take advantage of. Incidentally, I was born and I grew up in Ogun state, and I do know that when you talk of Ogun state, the economy of Ogun state benefits from the economic spillover of Lagos state and makes it more resilient than other states in the south-west.

“You will be surprised if I tell you that, Ondo state is just about 30 kilometres from Lekki along the coast. The government have proposed construction of the road to link Ondo state along the coast with Lagos.

So if you are coming to even the northern part of Nigeria, you can just drive from Lekki and go through Ore and come to other parts of Nigeria. The advantage of that is to open up the economy of the state to the centre of economic development in Nigeria.

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” Ondo state has the longest shoreline in Nigeria and there is a need for port development, in other to bring catalysts into the economy of the state. Unfortunately, it is highly capital intensive and the state on its own does not have the economy wherewithal to make that happen.

“But we on our part, we will look into private sector participation to take care of this. What we will do differently is to take our state away from the civil service status in terms of economy”.

Assuring that he has adequate political credentials to govern Ondo state, he said “I have learnt at the feet of giants. In my political history, I have learnt at the feet of the likes of late Ambassador Bamidele Olumiluwa as our governor and Dr Olusegun Agagu.

I was an inner cabinet member in the government of late Adebayo Adefarati and my brother, friend and boss, that is Dr Olusegun Mimiko.

“In all of these. I’ve garnered more than enough experience and knowledge of governance. I understand the nitty-gritty of Ondo states, from its territorial configuration and its sub-ethnic relationship”.