Oyo State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 elections, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, has said no governor should flaunt payment of salary of workers as achievements.
He said this while speaking with newsmen in Ibadan as part of activities marking his 50th birthday.
To him, payment of salaries of workers is done through statutory allocations that states across the country receive on monthly basis.
He said, “No state needs a governor before salary is paid. When salary is paid through statutory allocations and it goes straight to the Accountant General, they take it to the bank and they pay. Why must that be the major achievement of any governor?
Adelabu who is a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria also said embarking on populist is not sustainable.
“When you embark too much on populist programmes, which, in most cases, are not always giving the state sustainable development, it is more about immediate consumption.
He vowed that with the alleged poor performance of Governor Seyi Makinde in Oyo State, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led administration in the state would be defeated in the 2023 election in the state.
“My interest in Oyo politics is still very alive. My governorship is alive, undying and will never die. I am happy for not becoming the governor in 2019. That loss has made to get wiser politically and has made me to be more closer to the people at the grassroots and also the political leaders”.
He alleged that the PDP led administration in the state was yet to deliver the promises it made to the people of the state.
“Everything this administration promised the people of the state is still on their wish list 16 months after coming on board. With the calibre of people that have returned to the APC, no party can stand on the way of our party.
“Populist programmes are short-lived. Within a short period, people will know that this man doesn’t really have so much to offer in terms of sustainable infrastructural development.
“It is going to two years now, can you point at one or two major projects that this government has completed? Everything is still on their wish list and if wishes were horses, beggars would ride”.
On the crisis within the APC in the state, he dismissed it saying “As it is today, there is no leadership crisis in the APC in the state. I am part of the reconciliation process, from the meeting held in the house of Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, to the Abuja meeting and the last one convened by Governor Kayode Fayemi in his Ibadan residence.
“The deliberations and decisions reached at all the meetings are encouraging. We are ready to work together. We don’t have groups in the party again. We don’t have Unity Forum, SENACO or any other group. What we have now is one, strong APC in Oyo State.
“What we have now is a collegiate leadership in the Oyo APC, with Governor Alao-Akala appointed as the leader of the College of Leaders. Nobody with political ambition can be part of the collegiate,” he said.