Akeredolu faults Mimiko’s style of governance

 

The All Progressives Congress governorship aspirant in Ondo State, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), has accused the state governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, of impoverishing the people of the state.

He alleged that the governor had misapplied his administation’s ideas.

Akeredolu said Mimiko’s seven years in office had been a curse, instead of being a blessing to the people.

The former Nigerian Bar Association president also accused the governor of planning to create a crisis in the state by setting one political party against another.

According to him, Mimiko lacks the political wisdom and native intelligence to harness the abundant resources of the state for the economic well-being of the people.

Akeredolu, who addressed journalists in Lagos, said, “Mimiko is intelligent, but he misapplied his intelligence to the detriment of the people of Ondo State.

“We have an army of graduates who are not working. Let the governor point to what he has done to create jobs for 1,000 people in the last seven years. He claimed he was doing something about agriculture, but it is unfortunate that the place he set up to train youths in agricultural practice has been abandoned; the place is a bush now.

“Of course, agriculture is one of the ways to create jobs for the youths, but Mimiko’s misapplication of resources has left the place unproductive.

He also flayed the governor for allegedly abandoning the Ondo State University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa, for selfish reasons.

Akeredolu said, “Why for seven years would a governor leave a university unfunded and now rush there at the twilight of his administration? Because Mimiko wants a university in Ondo town, he now abandoned an existing university. You don’t have to cripple an existing infrastructure because you want to establish another one; that decision does not make sense.”

But Mimiko dismissed Akeredolu’s allegations as false. He asked the former NBA president to justify the claims with facts.

The governor, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Eni Akinsola, said Akeredolu raised false allegations because of his governorship ambition.

Akinsola said, “I am not surprised that Akeredolu said such things; we are not interested in taking issues with him. We are only interested in running Ondo State with the meager resources we have.

“In this era of serious economy crisis, the governor just inaugurated today a 27-kilometre road in Ajagba in the Irele Local Government Area. In the next two weeks, the governor will also inaugurate a reconstructed school and a mega school in that area.

“Again, he will inaugurate a township road in Ore. And Akeredolu is from Owo and he cannot deny that there is a dual carriage road constructed by Mimiko’s government in his town.”