Together We Can

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
– Edmund Burke

Some years back a man came to us and promised, “I will work for you” and he did in his first term in office. We were all glad and celebrated like it was the proverbial Eldorado. Again, he came to us for a second term in office and because we wanted good things to continue, we gave him the go ahead. However, little did we know that because he worked in his first term, his second coming was to get paid at our expense; tales of “unpaid” state workers and “over-taxed” general populace tell the remaining part of this story.

Well, that’s the story of a wrong we all have to right. It is easier to complain then fold arms and wait for the tide to sweep us away or on the other hand, together we can decide what comes next. Several options have been made available to us, many of them are people who have been in the circle of power for God knows how long. They have represented us in different capacities without any benefit to us. They have stayed too long in the corridors of power that they have actually forgotten, what the rest of us pass through on daily basis. Yet they keep coming back… Is this what we deserve? Others keep moving from one political party to another, always trying to be where the tide of politics favour, they claim they have our interest but you and I know the only interest they have is where the power is and how they can get their own share… Is that what we deserve?

In righting The Story of our state, the focus should not be on the party, rather on the individuals. All parties in Nigeria have good agendas, however the individuals implementing them are why most often than not we end up in untold hardship. Babatunde Fashola, Godswill Akpabio, Ibrahim Shema, Rabiu Kwankwaso are all individuals from different political parties and they all did well. We have good people in abundance in this state and we also have the right to reject the old and recycled hands who have kept us in this wilderness for this long. We can, together, decide what the future has to offer.

I remember the last Governorship election in the state, I spoke of a man, “Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) “, and actually rated him as the most trustworthy of the aspirants then but very few believed me. This is a man I know from his days at Ibadan as a growing lawyer; hardworking and true to his words. Aketi (as he is fondly called) is a man of few words but he delivers on his promises, and I believe this is what Ondo State needs. He is not promising to work for us, he is saying we should work together. He is leading the revolution to change what has become the norm in Ondo State, he is seeking to put us back on the map for great reasons.

We are one of the oil producing states yet we lack like we have nothing. With the capacity to produce over 12% of Nigeria’s output in Oil and gas one would have thought good jobs should be in abundance. Quart sand, Clay, Granite, Limestone, Talc, Kaolin, Coal, Columbine, Rock, Tin, River, Mineral deposits, Bitumen (which is the 2nd largest in the world) all lie in waste, not fully explored. Tourism and Agriculture also lack the necessary funding, as almost all sectors in the state suffer (from) neglect. We have the manpower to control the economy of this Nation yet our graduates can’t find good jobs within the state. Many parents, who after investing years of hard work to raise their kids, have to watch them leave for other states in search of greener pastures when we have all the resources it will take to make Ondo State a heaven in Nigeria. We are one of the most educated sets of people in Nigeria, we can ask questions and I believe we can make good choices.

This is not about politics, this is not about inciting people , this is about us, about a choice we have to make. Together We Can…
We can put this state back on the map
We can kick out the same old unrepentant politicians
We can say enough is enough
We can have true democracy where the Speaker actually speaks
We can decide our future and that of our kids
We can make sure our salaries are not paid every 3months
We can make sure our businesses are not taxed out of existence
We can make sure when we speak, we are heard
We can bridge the gap between the high class and the lower class
We can put back smiles on the faces of our people
We can take away the fears, the confusion, the lawlessness and the oppression off our streets
It is a choice and together we can beat the odds!