Sam Philip
Rt. Hon. Victor Olabimtan, the Chairman, Ondo State Universal Basic Education Board(SUBEB) on Saturday had a meeting with political leaders of Akoko extraction in the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The meeting was organised to enable them rub minds, share opinions, strengthen their bond and rededicate themselves to the collective quest of making life more meaningful and comfortable for their people.
Olabimtan, who appreciated the people for their support for Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, said the administration has zero tolerance for abandoned projects.
Speaking on the purpose of the meeting, he said: “This meeting will henceforth serve as avenue for our elected and appointed officials to give account of their Stewardship. In today’s meeting, our National Assembly members, State Assembly members, appointed officials from the Presidency and Akure will be allowed to tell us how far they have gone.
“Going forward, this meeting will be held quarterly on rotational basis and our leaders will be the hosts. As from now Local government meetings should hold monthly while ward meetings should also be held. Politics thrives through constant holding of meetings. We should no longer wait until election time before holding meetings.
“The time has come for us to jettison factionalism and embrace inclusive politics. Our people say, ani kan ri ni nje omo ejo ni ya! No hunter can face or defeat a multitude of snakes. I am using this medium to implore you all that we should strengthen our unity so that collectively we can develop Akoko-land and make life more meaningful and conducive for the incoming generation.
“This gathering is meant to prompt and redirect our consciousness to the tenets and practices of political unification. Therefore, my message to you all is that we should embrace team spirit and strengthen unity within the political class in Akoko-land.
“For instance, a united Akoko behind Governor Aiyedatiwa is by far better, stronger and more formidable than our individual efforts. Let us unite and collectively support our dear Governor. Unity provides countless benefits, including enhanced problem-solving, increased productivity, and the opportunity for innovation. It also fosters a supportive environment, strengthens relationship and personal growth which naturally leads to better outcomes for the team and individuals.
“In addition to the issue of unity amongst our political class, I also call on political elites, especially our elected officials to always channel their empowerment programs through the party, APC, structures. We all emanated through our unit, ward, local government area, senatorial district and state party structures, and these structures played priceless roles during our electioneering process. It’s expedient for us to still reach out to our various constituents through the party structures that worked for and produced us.
“At this juncture permit me to also use this occasion to commend President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his daring, effective and transformative agenda to develop and stabilize our dear country, Nigeria. We all can still remember how bad things were before he took over. Despite the fact that almost all the State governments couldn’t pay salary as at when due back then, I am sure that we all remember the endless queue for fuel at filling stations across the country. We all bear the brunt of buying fuel at the black-market because it was not readily available back then but to the glory of God the reverse is the case now.
“In the words of Governor Charles Soludo, “we know the state of Nigeria’s economy with all its unsustainable dysfunctionalities when President Tinubu assumed office. Since he took over, he has been resuscitating the dead economy and putting it on the path of sustainable growth. Under his watch, we have reduced our debt, paid off IMF loans, increased IGR phenomenally, enabled the governors to carry out many capital projects and pay salary, built investors confidence, recorded trade surplus, increased forex reserve, etc.”
“Nigeria is now on the verge of fast economic recovery. Though we are not where we ought to be yet but we are also far from where we used to be, and things are looking up. I enjoin you all to let us strengthen our support for President Tinubu and rededicate ourselves to the overall success of our party, the APC. Collectively, Akoko should openly adopt him as our candidate for the 2027 presidential election. That will make us the 1st ethnic nationality to adopt him.”