Posted by By CYNTHIA ALEBURU and VIVIAN IBIH on
The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) governorship candidate in the last election in Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has promised to reinstate the statue of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo at the Remembrance Arcade, Government House, Agodi, when he becomes governor of the state.
The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) governorship candidate in the last election in Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has promised to reinstate the statue of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo at the Remembrance Arcade, Government House, Agodi, when he becomes governor of the state.
The bust of the great nationalist was recently replaced with a controversial cenotaph by Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala.
The Awolowo sculpture was erected by the administration of former governor, Lam Adesina, who dismantled the statue of an unknown solider at the inception of the fourth republic.
However, it was pulled down by hoodlums believed to be supporters of the old Ibadan maverick politician, Chief Lamidi Adedibu, who is Akala's godfather.
Akala had rationalized his government's action, saying it decided to stick to the original design of the cenotaph in order to rest the controversy that had trailed the sculpture.
But Ajimobi, who is currently at the election petition tribunal, praying the court to declare him winner of the contentious gubernatorial polls, which, he said, was rigged in favour of the incumbent, dismissed this as 'a lame excuse."
Speaking to newsmen in Ibadan he remarked that Akala's action was a terrible disservice to the ideals of democracy, good governance and development-driven purposeful leadership which Awolowo represented.
According to him, no honour is too great to bestow on Awolowo, who was one of the founding fathers of the nation.
He vowed that if he became governor, correcting the action would be one of his first priority steps.
Besides, he promised to do more to immortalize Awolowo as a symbol of visionary, progressive politics and development.
'I cannot imagine how they would do a dumb thing like that. Chief Awolowo represented many things to the Yoruba race and the country in general. Is it his legacy as an elderstatesman, or the free education programme of his government of which many today were beneficiaries?
'Under him, the Yoruba people of the South West recorded many firsts and we still have the Ikeja/Ogba Industrial Estate, WEMA Board, Cocoa House, Liberty Stadium, which are the patrimony he bequeathed to us. The man established the first television station in Africa in Ibadan. So, it is the worst act of disrespect to have treated him so," Ajimobi said.
He, however, said that perhaps, it was asking too much to expect the government to do otherwise, given what he called the character and antecedents of members of the Peoples Democratic Party, which is in power in the state.
'Of course, these are no democrats, you need people who are educated and who go by the ideal values to appreciate Pa Awolowo and all we've been saying, but I promise that when I become governor all this wrongs will be corrected.