The Governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has warned that non-adherence to party supremacy and discipline, as witnessed recently in the National Assembly, portends great danger for the polity.

The governor said this while delivering the distinguished personality lecture of the Department of Political Science and Diplomatic Studies of Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State. He spoke on “Sustaining the wind of change.”
The Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, was the chairman of the occasion, while the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Matthews Ojo, was the chief host.

Emphasising the need for caution on the part of the major players in the crisis that had pitted the leadership of the National Assembly against the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, Ajimobi noted that no arm of the government could afford to play the ostrich.
The governor said, “For the new wave of change to be sustained, the legislature must not only be stable and predictable, but parliamentarians must learn how best to support party positions on important national issues.

“The recent event in the National Assembly, in which the time-test principles of party supremacy and discipline were rubbished, may not augur well for the polity.

“While not casting aspersions on anyone, more so that the Senate President (Senator Bukola Saraki) and the Speaker of House of Representatives (Hon. Yakubu Dogara) are eminently qualified to occupy those positions; the snag, however, is that the views of the APC, which was the platform that brought them to the parliament, was not sufficiently respected in matters of national interest.”

Since the APC felt strongly on the issue of Federal Character in the election or appointment of principal officers of the House, which Ajimobi described as a cardinal legal, moral and constitutional principle that should be respected by the party faithful, he said that the lawmakers ought to toe the party’s line.

Ajimobi blamed the financial insolvency stifling socio-economic development in most states on what he called the manifestation of brazen corruption that characterized the former President Goodluck Jonathan-led Peoples Democratic Party’s Federal Government.

He traced the country’s pervading precarious financial woes and insecurity to mediocre leadership at the federal level, which, he said, promoted administrative ineptitude, unwarranted aggrandizement-cum brazen corruption and lack of vision.

Refraining from what he called blanket condemnation, Ajimobi, nonetheless, acknowledged that few of the PDP governors provided effective leadership in their respective states, adding that none of the political parties was bereft of good materials.

Ajimobi said, “It is a common knowledge that two reasons are responsible for the drop in statutory allocations to the states; which are theft of over 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day and the fall in oil prices from over $100 to about $50 per barrel.

“While the fall in oil prices might have been beyond (former) President Jonathan’s control, it remains unclear why no single oil thief was caught or apprehended, beyond a few pipeline vandals.”

He adduced these and many other reasons for the decision of Nigerians to embrace the change slogan of the APC, which swept the PDP out of power after 16 years of the party’s firm grip on the country.

In order to sustain the change agenda of the Buhari administration, he called for total rebirth, moral rectitude and patriotism on the part of citizens, while calling on the government to liberalize the solid mineral sector and to diversify the economy from the oil sector.

Calling on the National Assembly to tinker with the law that places mining of solid mineral resources in the Exclusive List and make it Concurrent, he said a lot of revenue was daily being lost to illegal miners, who have capitalized on the inability of the FG to effectively control the sector.

Beyond these, he also advocated improvement on national security; adherence to professionalism by the mass media that dwells more on investigative journalism; robust legislation by the legislature, overhaul of the education sector and improvement on the country’s foreign policy.

In his welcome address, Aregbesola noted that the change electioneering slogan that brought Buhari to power was an idea whose time had come.
In spite of the encumbrances and spanners thrown by the opposition elements to truncate Buhari’s ambition, the Osun State helmsman said the President triumphed because Nigerians desired change.

Aregbesola said, “For those who care to know, the election of President Muhammadu Buhari was the culmination of the struggle by the progressives since independence. Hence, he won despite all the obstacles and odds.

“After the Ekiti electoral heist that saw to the emergence of a PDP government, the evil machinery was moved down to Osun State. There calculation was that if Osun could be seized, other South-West states will become low-hanging fruits for them.

“But, my victory foretold the eventual triumph of President Buhari. It was a strong statement that the APC had become unstoppable. The recent media attacks targeted against me was for no other reason than that I played a major role in stopping the PDP from holding on to power. But, I’m not worried.”

For the country to benefit fully from the change in guard at the federal level, he admonished citizens to change their attitude to work, and to critically assess the impact their activities is having on the society and the economy.

The VC of BOWEN commended Aregbesola for his contributions to the growth and development of the institution; while he applauded what he called Ajimobi’s relentless efforts at urban renewal, as well as social, industrial and infrastructural revolution in Oyo state.
Ojo saluted the doggedness of the two governors that saw to their winning election for second term in office, especially Ajimobi, whom he said broke the second term jinx in the state.

http://www.thinkoyo.com/ajimobi-aregbesola-advocate-sustenance-of-wind-of-change/

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