We’re shocked by your ignorance, Oyo APC tells Folarin
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has said that it was shocked by what it called the crass ignorance of the state by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the state, Senator Teslim Folarin, which it said indicated that he was grossly incapable of ruling the state judging by his comments during the flag off of his campaign in Ibadan on Monday.
Folarin had, during the campaign rally, held at Mapo Hall said that his speech at the occasion was borne out of the brief given him by some unnamed political associates and personal aides shortly before the rally.
The APC, in a statement issued in Ibadan on Tuesday by its state Director of Publicity, Mr. Olawale Shadare, said it was inconceivable that a person aspiring to rule Oyo State needed to rely on the brief by his cohorts before knowing what to tell the people of the state.
``Unfortunately, throughout Folarin’s speech, he could not tell the people what he has in stock for them and how he intends to run the affairs of the state in the next four years better than the sitting performing governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi.
``He succeeded in dampening the morale of the people of the state who had waited patiently to hear from him what he intends to do differently on education, agric, health, transportation, social infrastructure and others.
``Folarin’s barren speech at the rally has given him away as clueless, incompetent and grossly incapable of ruling the state without being spoon-fed. This has shown that he has no mind of his own and intends to rule the state by proxy.
``We are, however, not surprised because his eight-year stay in the Senate, four of which he spent as the Leader yielded virtually no dividend for the people of his Senatorial district in particular and the state in general,’’ the party said.
According to APC, it is only in Folarin’s imagination that the Ajimobi administration has abandoned the youth in terms of employment and empowerment.
``Before Folarin goes to town further with his deliberate distortion of facts, we need to tell him that no governor before Ajimobi has given top priority to youth employment and empowerment in an ongoing basis.
``For instance, it is public knowledge that the Ajimobi administration, in one fell swoop, employed 20,000 youths under the Youth Empowerment Scheme of Oyo State (YES-O) barely six months into assuming office, out of whom over 5,000 have been given permanent employment by the state government.
``In addition to this, 1,500 of the YES-O cadets were employed into the teaching service while various empowerment programmes were introduced by government to take the youth off the streets,’’ it said.
The party also said that it was regrettable that the PDP gubernatorial candidate was completely lacking in facts by saying that only 200 doctors were in the employ of the state government to cater for the medical needs of seven million citizens.
It stated that only recently, the state government employed a total of 1,000 health workers, 300 of whom were medical doctors to complements the efforts of the existing health workers in government hospitals and health centres.
APC said further that Folarin’s allegation that education had collapsed in the state without substantiating the claim was a mere figment of his wild imagination.
It noted that several intervention programmes had been implemented in the education sector which had led to appreciable improvement in the standard of education in the state.
The party cited the employment of 5,300 teaching and non-teaching staff, mass rehabilitation of school buildings, ongoing construction of six model schools across the state, payment of WAEC fees for three consecutive years and partnership with the University of Ibadan for monitoring of schools among others.
APC warned Folarin not to use the issue of state creation to deceive the people of the state, pointing out that in his eight years in the Senate when he had the opportunity, not once was he credited with championing the creation a state out of the present Oyo State.
The party called on the people of the state to be wary of Folarin whom it said had no electoral value but only out to hoodwink them and whip up unnecessary sentiment to secure their votes and return the state to the path of retrogression.
