Governor Makinde Urges Residents to Elect Preferred Candidates for LG Polls

By Olubunmi Osoteku, Ibadan

Ahead of the April 27th local government election in the state, Governor Seyi Makinde has charged the electorate to go out en-masse and vote for their preferred and choice leaders at the grassroots level.

Makinde gave the charge in a remark while receiving top government functionaries and dignitaries, led by the Deputy Governor, Bayo Lawal, who paid him a Sallah homage at his Ikolaba, Ibadan, residence, on Wednesday.

Praise him

Noting that the April 27th election would make it the second time his government is conducting local government elections in less than five years, the governor recalled that the previous administration in the state did not conduct local government elections for seven out of its eight-year tenure, and should not accuse his administration of insincerity, if they (opposition) will not praise him.

Makinde said: “Let me use this opportunity to say that the local government election is barely three weeks away. I want to say to our people that, please election is not a do-or-die thing. It is whosoever the people want that they will choose. Let us intensify our campaign. This administration is all about the interest of the people. And the people know the difference between federal, state and local elections.

“Nobody has stopped anyone from going out to campaign. The political landscape in Oyo State is very calm. We know how things used to be even for internal elections. We have come together to put the interest of the state over and above all other interests, be it personal or group,” the governor declared.

Tolerance and harmony

He also seized the opportunity to assure party loyalists that he is working on rolling out more appointments for deserving individuals, and thanked all residents for the religious tolerance and harmony which made it possible for his government to be able to achieve success at various levels, asking that such be maintained.

Makinde stated: “And for those who may want to criticise us on our appointments, this has been the leanest administration in the history of Oyo State. You may check the data. After our re-election, before we started giving appointments after we had sacked all appointees, I was surpised that our wage bill didn’t make any difference.

“For the first four years, we moved our wage bill from about N4.8billion monthly to about N8.3billion (including wage award). But the political appointees in it is not up to a N100million. When people say it is politicians that feed fat on public fund, the percentage we politicians get from our wage bill is what I just told you,” he revealed.

The governor pledged that his administration would continue to run a responsible administration, saying those to be appointed can be accommodated without damaging the system that has been put in place.

Lateefah Ibrahim