I Will Rule Oyo With The Fear Of God! Alao Akala’s Campaign Speech

Yesterday the former governor made his intentions known to
the people of Oyo that he was ready to come back in 2015 after so much plea
from them and from the elders of the state. He gave an account of how he ruled
back then, and what he will be doing if voted in, come 2015. His speech;

Let me from the onset express my deep gratitude to the
Almighty God, our Creator for making it possible for us all to witness this
occasion. We remain eternally grateful to Him for His show of mercy, blessing
and protection on us all in our respective endeavours. You will agree with me
that a “lot of water has passed under the bridge” these past years and in spite
of all odds, we remain undaunted, resolute and determined to stay together
believing that together we shall reposition our great Pace Setter State to the
overall joy and benefit of all.

My good people of Oyo State, in the last few months, I have
received hundreds of telephone calls, thousands of text messages and personal
visitations from all and sundry asking me to come out once again to contest for
the post of the Governor of our dear Oyo State.

I must say that these past three years, I have had time to
reflect on our performances as I believe many of you have. Did we satisfy the
yearnings of the masses? As a government, did we provide the much needed
succour for the people? Were the masses impressed by our people-oriented
policies and programmes? it is indeed gratifying to note with a deep sense of
modesty that we made positive impacts on the lives of the people, as attested
to by the greater majority and also the International Community. The World Bank
and the World Health Organization as well as the UBEC,CBN and the Federal
Ministry of Transportation recognized our contributions by giving our
government awards on our performances on Local Empowerment Programmes,
Agriculture, Roads, Transportation, Education, Health and the Environment among
several others.

I am convinced that while reflecting on our performance in
government, the good people of the state were also watching and monitoring the
performance of the present administration. As a matter of fact, they have been
able to see the difference and compare notes in relation to our performances.
One fact remains incontrovertible, ours was a governance with a human face
while the present is characterized by anti-people policies as evidenced in the
wanton destruction of means of livelihood; imposition of higher taxes; capital
flight and outright dismissal of public servants on flimsy excuses.

Our government was characterized by friendly policies,
people-oriented projects, accelerated commerce through micro-finance loans at
zero % and without collateral, rural development, job creation, that is, by
using home-based and local Contractors for minor and major contracts, opening
of new roads in the rural areas ,release of grants to schools which enhanced
educational development; respect for the work-force and job security for Public
Servants. This is in addition to purchase of Skip-eaters for environmental
sanitation; purchase of fully equipped ambulances, renovation of Public places,
such as Mapo Hall, Atiba Hall, repositioning of BCOS with modern equipments and
opening of radio stations in Ogbomoso and the Oke-Ogun axis. And more
importantly, our administration established good and qualitative leadership as
against the present situation where we now experience leadership of a Group
Managing Director running State affairs as a Private enterprise.

We also embarked on major road construction in both the
urban and rural areas where over 750 kilometers of roads were constructed or
rehabilitated to facilitate easy access and enhanced smooth transportation.
Indeed the 5kilometers of road per local government was designed to be a
process whereby if it had been sustained, virtually all roads in our rural
areas would be tarred by now.

This is addition to the renovation of the Adeoyo Hospital
with modern equiptments, all the local governments had functional health
facilities and we embarked on and completed the Teaching Hospital Complex in
Ogbomoso. We also established the College of Agriculture, Igboora to boost
Social- economic activities and provide employment in the Ibarapa Zone

I want to particularly mention major road construction in
the Oke-Ogun area as it is the food basket of the State. Much emphasis was
placed in this area as it had been neglected by past administrations until we
intervened and our focus then, was to open up these areas to enhance
transportation of agricultural products to the urban areas. We constructed and
commissioned Sepeteri- Igboho road; Alaga-Saki road; Iganna – Iwere-Ile Samo
Road; Ado Awaye-Ilua-Okeho road; Otu- Igbojaye Road and Saki- Ilesa- Baruba
Road, amongst several others in the area.

By the special grace of God, our second coming will witness
an all inclusive governance and qualitative leadership. We shall also consolidate
on our previous achievements in the areas of Education, Health, Commerce and
Agriculture. I make bold to state that every village and major town in Oyo
State desire even development hence we shall continue with our policy of
uplifting the rural areas as well as the urban centres with execution of
people-oriented projects.

During my first tenure spanning 2007 to 2011, you will
recall that our administration pursued a 13-point agenda and impacted
positively on the masses of our darling state. Let me refresh your memories
that the 13-point agenda then were: Good Governance; Sustainable Environment;
Poverty Alleviation; Industrialization; Employment opportunities;
Infrastructural Regeneration; International Trade; Water supply; Food for All/
Agriculture; Partnership; Education; Power and Security. I wish to humbly
inform you that the aforementioned agenda will be re- enacted by our incoming
administration pursued with renewed vigour, deep sense of responsibility and
delivered proactively to every nook and cranny of the state. Towards this, a
bottom-up approach that guarantees responsiveness to the yearnings of the
populace shall be adopted which is the hallmark of good governance and
leadership.

Inevitably we might have offended some people in our desire
to make life better for the populace or in pursuit of equity and justice. None
of our actions were deliberate or personal vendetta. I therefore seek your
understanding and forgiveness. I call on all other aspirants, let us all work
together to deliver this state to PDP, and never should anyone of us again
throw out the baby with the bath water. When we form the next Government, We
will run an inclusive government and respect the right of all party members.

I have heard the cries of market women whose shops were
destroyed and means of livelihood taken away. I have listened to the agonies of
Landlords whose houses were destroyed without compensation. I have seen many
Civil Servants and top ranking officers of Government sacked ignominiously, but
today I come to you with a message of hope and assurance of a better tomorrow .
You shall be duly compensated and those unjustly sacked shall be reinstated.
You all have seen how our rating in education has plummeted, with Government of
the day struggling to pay our children’s WAEC fees. Before I left 3 years ago,
we constructed over two thousand schools with two awards from Universal Basic
Education, but today our children are learning under dilapidated classrooms.

Therefore on this day, and at this defining moment, I have
listened to your appeals and accepted your requests and hereby offer myself to
you in the name of God Almighty to contest under our great party PDP for the
post of The Governor of Oyo State in 2015. I promise to rule with the fear of
God.