Ondo Polls : MY Concern
Elections are just around the corner in Ondo state and as usual, the politicians are strategizing and trying to outwit each other in the race for the coveted seat in Alagbaka Akure. The usual promises are being made and the philosopher kings amongst them have started bamboozling us with different tales of how they are going to make our dear state the next big story out of Nigeria.
However, my plea goes out to whoever emerges as the next Governor of my dear Ondo state, the people of Ondo south senatorial district passionately plead with him or her to treat us like we are part of the state and not as a group of people who live on the extreme end of the state and probably should not matter when developmental projects are being discussed.
Sigmund Freund once said "being honest with one's self is an entirely good exercise", the people of Ondo south have been greatly shortchanged by the PDP led government in Akure. This is despite the fact that this zone has been known to have consistently voted for the PDP since 2003, yet the party has not deemed it fit, to reciprocate by developing the area. The little achievements of the Agagu led government has largely been made to waste away.
The poetic tragedy of Nigeria has always been the inability of her leaders, to look beyond petty politics and develop a broadbased blueprint that would enable them leave a lasting legacy after they have left office. For the average politician, after building a few roads that will most likely wash away at the first rains, they divert their energies into mundane things such as nicknames and slogans.
The quality of a good leader, is reflected in the standards he sets for himself and I must say that the standards that have been set by the Mimiko administration and his co travellers have not been of any help to the state and Ondo south in particular. That political and business leaders from the area have kept quiet in the face of this deliberate neglect is appalling and the seeming collecive decision of most of them to watch events from Lagos and other choice locations in Nigeria is even more sad.
Also I must say that if I lay the blame of silence completely at the feet of our business leaders and politicians who choose to stay away, then I would be blatantly unfair because their decision has largely been as a result of government's inability to provide security for the people, the spate of kidnappings and killings is alarmingly high and even royal fathers have not been spared from the dare-devil kidnappers.
It is very embarassing, that the whole of this senatorial disctrict has no dualized road and even the roads that are existing have all become death traps due to lack of maintenance since the Agagu led government was swept out of power. Take a drive through the roads from Ore down to Okitipupa and into the hinterlands of the riverine areas and the spate of neglect would leave a first time visitor stunned.
The area has had no electricity for almost three years now, a whole three years, no light in a full senatorial district in the 21st century. It has felt like we are a people that has long been forgotten in the corridors of power in Akure and the government of the day is not even pretending to do something about the situation.
It is true that most of our elected leaders have sold their conscience and cannot challenge the authorities in the capital. It is even more sad that these same set of people have gotten into office through every means possible except fairly over the years. For example, I do not even know if I have a senator representing me in Abuja, I have never heard his voice contributing to any issue in the house either important or mundane, same for the house of representatives member and the ones elected to the state house of assembly have become advocates for the governor and so I cannot expect them to state our sorry situation before the authorities in Abuja and Akure respectively.
Ondo state is having it real rough right now and in Ondo south senatorial district things have fallen apart terribly, there is no viable government project present in the zone and sadly leaders are keeping quiet about it or are simply not doing enough.
According to Ernest Hemingway, "the best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them", the people of this zone have fully trusted and placed their hopes in this government only for their fingers to get burnt. The government has not given the generality of the people in Ondo state and Ondo south in particular, peace, dignity and the opportunity to progress.
The PDP led government has betrayed the people and greatly offended their sensiblities and more importantly,what we have missed from this government is accountability.
Written by ALAI
However, my plea goes out to whoever emerges as the next Governor of my dear Ondo state, the people of Ondo south senatorial district passionately plead with him or her to treat us like we are part of the state and not as a group of people who live on the extreme end of the state and probably should not matter when developmental projects are being discussed.
Sigmund Freund once said "being honest with one's self is an entirely good exercise", the people of Ondo south have been greatly shortchanged by the PDP led government in Akure. This is despite the fact that this zone has been known to have consistently voted for the PDP since 2003, yet the party has not deemed it fit, to reciprocate by developing the area. The little achievements of the Agagu led government has largely been made to waste away.
The poetic tragedy of Nigeria has always been the inability of her leaders, to look beyond petty politics and develop a broadbased blueprint that would enable them leave a lasting legacy after they have left office. For the average politician, after building a few roads that will most likely wash away at the first rains, they divert their energies into mundane things such as nicknames and slogans.
The quality of a good leader, is reflected in the standards he sets for himself and I must say that the standards that have been set by the Mimiko administration and his co travellers have not been of any help to the state and Ondo south in particular. That political and business leaders from the area have kept quiet in the face of this deliberate neglect is appalling and the seeming collecive decision of most of them to watch events from Lagos and other choice locations in Nigeria is even more sad.
Also I must say that if I lay the blame of silence completely at the feet of our business leaders and politicians who choose to stay away, then I would be blatantly unfair because their decision has largely been as a result of government's inability to provide security for the people, the spate of kidnappings and killings is alarmingly high and even royal fathers have not been spared from the dare-devil kidnappers.
It is very embarassing, that the whole of this senatorial disctrict has no dualized road and even the roads that are existing have all become death traps due to lack of maintenance since the Agagu led government was swept out of power. Take a drive through the roads from Ore down to Okitipupa and into the hinterlands of the riverine areas and the spate of neglect would leave a first time visitor stunned.
The area has had no electricity for almost three years now, a whole three years, no light in a full senatorial district in the 21st century. It has felt like we are a people that has long been forgotten in the corridors of power in Akure and the government of the day is not even pretending to do something about the situation.
It is true that most of our elected leaders have sold their conscience and cannot challenge the authorities in the capital. It is even more sad that these same set of people have gotten into office through every means possible except fairly over the years. For example, I do not even know if I have a senator representing me in Abuja, I have never heard his voice contributing to any issue in the house either important or mundane, same for the house of representatives member and the ones elected to the state house of assembly have become advocates for the governor and so I cannot expect them to state our sorry situation before the authorities in Abuja and Akure respectively.
Ondo state is having it real rough right now and in Ondo south senatorial district things have fallen apart terribly, there is no viable government project present in the zone and sadly leaders are keeping quiet about it or are simply not doing enough.
According to Ernest Hemingway, "the best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them", the people of this zone have fully trusted and placed their hopes in this government only for their fingers to get burnt. The government has not given the generality of the people in Ondo state and Ondo south in particular, peace, dignity and the opportunity to progress.
The PDP led government has betrayed the people and greatly offended their sensiblities and more importantly,what we have missed from this government is accountability.
Written by ALAI
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