By Ademola Babalola in Ibadan
With intimidating credentials in academics, public service and the media, a leading governorship aspirant on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Prof. Adeolu Akande has said that he was the best among arrays of aspirants jostling to take over the mantle of the state as Governor Abiola Ajimobi winds down in May, 2019.
Prof. Akande has therefore told the people of the state to expect economic turn around, leap in infrastructural facilities and quality and abundant lives for the estimated 10million people in the state.
Akande spoke to a group of journalists as his campaign to pick the sole ticket of the ruling party peaked with the stakeholders meeting he held with the party organs in the state.
He declared that journalism has prepared him to be a good, credible and the most experienced candidate who will succeed the incumbent governor in 2019.
Akande, a Professor of Political science with over two decades in the field of journalism said as a journalist and a political scientist, he has been taught how to run a good government and maintain a link between the government and the masses.
According to the former Chief of Staff to Ajimobi, the three areas where he has invested his resources over the years are; academics, public service and the media which he said had prepared him for the coveted seat of a state governor.
Akande, who was recently appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari as the Chairman of the National Information
Technology Development Agency (NITDA) dismissed insinuation that the people of Oke Ogun are not united in their quest to produce the next governor of the state.
He said “There is nobody who knows the public and government than journalists. We know who are the wicked people of society, the good people, people who are suffering and how government can help them. That is what journalists do and that is what I have done all my life. I have sentiment for good governance.
“I am a professor of comparative politics. The core of comparative politics is to know how best government is being run all over the world. That is what I have been doing since 1984 and I am still doing it till date. I have also consulted for federal and state government agencies. I think all these are enough for good governance.
“Coming from Oke-Ogun doesn’t stop you from winning majority of votes from Ibadan, Ibarapa, Oyo, Ogbomoso or even in other part of the state, if you work very hard. My unique selling point is that I have been trained to run a government over the years. I have the experience and exposure. I have been taught in a career that has developed a basic and right temperament to run a good government which is the media.
“I have experience of governance at the state and the federal levels to understand the problems and the opportunity we have in Oyo state. I have been a journalist over the years to know that the duty of the government is to serve the interest of majority of people. When you combine all these, you cannot fail in government. With due respect to all the aspirants, I do not see anyone who has all these attributes that guarantee that he will be a good leader as myself.â€
