Ex-CBN Deputy Governor, Adelabu, Declares Guber Ambition in Oyo

Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

A Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, yesterday, declared his readiness to run again for the office of the number one citizen in Oyo State in the 2023 general election under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Adelabu also declared that the incumbent Governor of Oyo State, Mr. Seyi Makinde, is not good enough for the state, stating that the governor popularised thuggery, hooliganism, insecurity and dirty environment in the state in the last three years.

He told journalists during his “Gubernatorial Declaration Speech,” in Ibadan that his mission is to put government business where it should be, stating that he is currently the most qualified aspirant across all political platforms to transform the state from its current form.

Adelabu said: “Today is the first day heralding the process for my declaration to run for the post of governor of Oyo State again. Today is not my official declaration; it is a day for me to engage the pressmen because on the day of my official declaration there might not be time for that.”

He noted that his gubernatorial ambition is to enrich politics with ethics to the service of humanity within the Oyo State context.

According to him, “most of you will recollect that I voluntary retired from the CBN to enter the political frame to give Oyo people a first class governance. My past and present is like an open book before you and without being immodest, I have been an excellent performer in everywhere I have served.

“The last three years have provided me with the sober opportunity to review our state. After this introspection, I concluded that our state can be better than it is.”

It would be recalled that Adelabu, the grandson of the late Nationalist and Ibadan Political Leader, Mr. Adegoke Adelabu, (aka Penkelemesi), lost the 2019 election to Makinde of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).

He, however, noted that he is confident of his capability to defeat Makinde at the polls next year, maintaining that the maladministration of the governor in the last three years has led many people who formed the coalition that gave him the victory in 2019 to depart from him with and trooped into the APC.

According to him, “we are not going to advertise payment of salary as achievements because it is not. The real achievements lie in the actual vitalisation of departments of government to produce useful services, projects and programs for the people.

“Workers will be made to see internal satisfaction in their work not the exterior satisfaction of salary. I have genuine intentions to use my brain, disposition, training, experiences and ideals towards the advancement of my dear state.

“With all sense of duty and honesty to the call of the good people of Oyo State for me to throw my hat into the ring for the second time, in order to contest for the governorship of Oyo State in the 2023 elections under the banner of our great party, the APC, I can’t but accept this great call to duty to emancipate the good people of Oyo State from the heavy yoke of servitude laid upon them by the present PDP led government of Oyo State.

“The pedigree of my forbears is to stare straight into the treacherous face of naked power and speak the truth to it unequivocally.”

Those present at the event included chieftains of the APC in the state such as the State Factional Chairman APC, Mr. Abu Gbadamosi; Senator Ayoade Adeseun; Hon. Saheed Akinade-Fijabi and former Secretary to Oyo State Government (SSG), Mr. Olalekan Alli.