Brother Festus Adedayo is one of those respected names that responsible young men regard and hold in high esteem and would be eager to read his write-ups in the national dailies. Lately however, brother Festus has chosen to ignore the truth by attempting to whip up sentiment.
Commentaries from him particularly as they affect President Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Ondo State governors are unbecoming. He hasn’t hidden his hatred for President Tinubu, Governor Olusegun Mimiko, late Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu SAN through his write-ups. One begins to wonder, what exactly does Egbon really want!
Some links to his articles against these personalities attest to the fact.
It is disgusting, illusional, unbelievable, preposterous, alarming, that brother Festus has ceaselessly attacked governors in Ondo State. “Kini Egbon n fe gan?”
In his latest ferocious attack, Adedayo targeted Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s first year in office. Referring to my write-up on the governor’s achievements in his first year in office, Adedayo described my effort as an attempt to “whitewash a dirty boulder.” He dismissed the progress made in ongoing projects and criticised the state’s infrastructure development.
In the article titled “One year after for Aketi and Aiyedatiwa” Festus Adedayo said “When last week, one of Aiyedatiwa’s aides, Kikelomo Isijola, took to the media, on the anniversary of the governor’s first year in office, to commend him for some infrastructural projects she claimed her boss had pulled through, she received barbs severally from people who saw her effort as whitewashing a dirty boulder. Many people hold that, in the last 25 years of democratic governance, Ondo State has been extremely unlucky in the hands of its governors. Except under Olusegun Agagu and Olusegun Mimiko where the state received infrastructural lifting, the state is generally perceived to be backward development-wise. While the state collects one of the hugest federal revenues as an oil-producing state, its capital city is one of the most underdeveloped in the Southwest. Ado-Ekiti, which became capital about three decades ago, is rated far more developed than Akure.
“During his swearing-in, Aiyedatiwa promised to complete the projects left by Aketi. One of these is the Oda-Ijoka dualization project in Akure, The uncompleted projects, according to Aiyedatiwa, would receive urgent attention. He specifically mentioned Oba Osupa–Oluwatuyi–Ijoka (Akure) dualisation, completion of Oda dual carriage (Akure), completion of Akure flyover (Onyearugbulem-Shagari-Irese), construction of 15.89km selected roads in Ondo township among many others. A year after, none of them has been completed. Even Isijola claimed the projects are 60% completed, many of them almost six years after. The state football team has been playing its home matches in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, due to the infrastructural horror that the state’s stadium is. The internal roads in Akure are in impassable conditions with no modern developmental strides befitting of a state capital in the city.”
The barbs said to have followed my write up was in his imagination as nothing like that happened. Anyways, Egbon resides in Ibadan and hardly comes home. All his investments are in Ibadan despite his claimed love for Akure. I challenge him to point to what he has ever done in Akure – his home state.
He must have forgetten the yoruba proverb that says “ah kin gbe okere mo didun obe” – you don’t know the sweetness of the soup from afar. While Brother was busy with his personal business in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Aiyedatiwa is facing herculean task of governance in Ondo State and transformation of nooks and cranies of the Sunshine State.
So, how would he have known the transformation going on in Ondo State and in our home town?
I understand he’s pushing an Akure Agenda. One can do it without running down or being an antagonist of the state governors. He has been on this for more than a decade now. He started with Dr Mimiko moved to Akeredolu and now on Aiyedatiwa. He should go and learn from Prof. Olu Aderounmu and Rtd Major General Joshua Adebayo Omosebi who have been galvanizing support across Akure division for the agenda.
Egbon should also know that activism is different from politics!
Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa means well for Ondo State and her people. Years to come will witness more robust development as encapsulated in the 2025 appropriation bill signed to law on the 30th December, 2024.
While signing the budget, Aiyedatiwa described the 2025 fiscal plan, aptly christened the “Budget of Recovery,” as a bold and strategic step towards rebuilding the state’s economy and addressing critical socio-economic challenges.
“This is a critical moment for our administration, one that marks a significant step towards fulfilling the promises we made to the people of Ondo State during the electioneering processes,”
“We have deliberately allocated the higher percentage to capital development in order to jumpstart the economy and initiate massive infrastructural renewal across the State. The main objective of this budget is to make life easy for our people. This objective is sacrosanct and non-negotiable.” he said
“I want to reassure the good people of Ondo State that our government remains focused on its goals of economic development, achieving sustainable food security, resilient community development, and the facilitation of social inclusion and security,” he affirmed.
The budget, totaling N698.659 billion, allocates N433.622 billion (62.06%) to capital expenditure and N265.037 billion (37.94%) to recurrent expenditure.
As I was wrapping up on this write-up, the state governor on Tuesday 31st December, 2024 announced approval of over 50 township road projects in the 18 local government areas of the state.
I will like to appeal to my big brother, Festus Adedayo and his co-travellers to join hands with our amiable Lucky Aiyedatiwa to further develop Ondo State rather than throwing stones.
Hon. Kikelomo Isijola is the Special Assistant to Ondo State Governor on Digital Media
