From Idu Jude Abuja
Ahead of the November 16 governorship election in Ondo state, the General Secretary of the Yoruba Socio-Political Group, Afenifere, Chief Olusola Ebiseni, has emerged as the governorship candidate of the Labour Party.
Recall that Ebiseni had contested for the governorship of the opposition People’s Democratic Party in the state but lost to Agboola Ajayi.
Addressing newsmen in Akure on Tuesday in the company of the National leadership of the Labour Party, Ebiseni said that his candidature in the Labor Party was secured since July this year.
The national leaders of the party, who accompany the governorship candidate include Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, Dr Kingsley Okundaye, Prof Theophilus Ndubuaku, and Folu Bademosi, who are members of the National Transition Committee (NTC)
Ebiseni is a former Commissioner for Environment, while his running mate, Awude, is a former Commissioner for youth and sports development. Both served under former Governor Olusegun Mimiko’s administration.
Ebiseni pointed out that he intended to rebuild Ondo state, saying, “It is my pleasure to address you today as the candidate of the Labour Party in the Gubernatorial Election in Ondo State slated for November 16th this year.
“It is in fulfillment of my determination, in conjunction with my running mate and other like minds, to provide our people a viable option to drive the developmental machinery on the right path of progressive politics for which our dear State is reputed.
“In recent times, security concerns have become the most debilitating factor against development leading to unemployment and hunger. We shall run an administration of veritable teamwork and people participation based on the age-long and proven beneficial programs enunciated above but calibrated as follows, We will, in partnership with the Federal Government and its relevant agencies, build on the efforts of successive administrations in providing adequate security within our borders and in regional collaboration with our neighbors as we all know that security of lives and property is the primary purpose and responsibility of government.
On Human Capital Development: “This includes education, ICT, and technological know-how. Education at primary and secondary school levels shall be qualitative and free, including the introduction of free buses for students, payment for WAEC final examinations, school infrastructural development, and training and re-training of teaching personnel. The standard of our Post-secondary education shall be heavily enhanced yet subsidized for access and affordability. Sporting activities shall be given priority attention
“Infrastructural Transformation: We will revive our moribund infrastructures and bring to bear new ones. We will embark on road construction as has never been seen before in the State, including urban renewal, ecological control, and environmental sanitation.
“Agricultural Rebirth: We will re-enact the golden era of agriculture in the state through a revolution in which we will inject mechanization and assist in the area, bringing equipment and inputs to farmers. We will also ensure that our farmers are safe in their farms.
Industrial Revolution, he said his administration, will get people working again by putting in place measures that will encourage and enhance industrialization with the objectives of mass creation of jobs and employment.
Qualitative Health Care, “There shall be free child and maternal health care services. We shall build more Health Centres and hospitals to bring health
care services closer to the people and train more personnel in all sectors with affordable access to drugs.
“Integrated Rural Development: We will pay adequate attention to our rural populace through upgrading and regular maintenance of rural roads and other infrastructures to improve living and discourage rural-urban drift.
“Full details of these 8 cardinal programs shall be released to the good people of Ondo State in due course; suffice it to say that they shall be the pillars upon which the master plan with which we shall run our government shall rest and the yardsticks by which our government will be measured. The mantra of our campaigns is to rebuild Ondo State; “the November 16th, 2024 election is another potent instrument to choose a governor who shall be in charge of our dear state. In this connection, we are confronted with the choice of either a governor who will assume office without a clear focus on how to manage the state, therefore waste or mismanage our resources and leave our state worse than he met it, a governor who will see state resources as his resources and those of his cronies or a governor who is well prepared, full of experience, armed with requisite intellectual sagacity, and one eager to hit the ground running to mobilize the people, cultivate the vast resources of the state and be the reference point in good governance.
“Without sounding immodest I make bold to say that this third scenario captures personality and intentions. I hereby yield to the call of the good people of Ondo State to offer myself for service on the platform of the Labour Party, which symbol of a bonded family symbolic representation is incidentally a of the meaning of my name Ebiseni.
“Labour Party is not new to our state. It is a party in which my running mate and I and a vast majority of politicians across all political parties, including many of us seated herein, served the state in various capacities, as revealed below.
On the choice of a running mate, he appointed Hon. Dayo Awude, a well-experienced and known technocrat from the Akure sub-group of our state whom I came across when I was Commissioner in the administration of Chief Adebayo Adefarati. He was one of the leaders of the very versatile Ondo Youths In Politics (OYIP) some of which members marooned in other political parties have signified the intention to join the Labour Family.
