The legal luminary and the governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo state, Chief Niyi Akintola SAN, on Tuesday revealed real reason progressive in the state lost the last election, saying because they took the electorate for granted.
While speaking with Nigerian Tribune, Akintola lamented that many people claiming to be progressives today lacked discipline, honour and integrity.
He spoke at the first independence day conference organised by the Progressive Network (PRONET) with the theme “Pseudo progressivism: Contemporary political malady in Nigeria”, held at the international conference centre, University of Ibadan.
According to Akintola, many of the people professing to be progressive in Nigeria today are people with intelligence without integrity.
He said the people, who are pseudo progressives had completely deviated from the principles laid by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who was the founder of progressive politics in the country.
Akintola said the last eight years of progressive government in Oyo state failed to exhibit the principles and rule in line with the ideologies that are associated with progressive from the first republic.
He said, “But what have the pseudo progressives done today? They have stolen from the people and used the people’s money to make the people indebted to them and at the mercy of their whims and caprices.
“Instead of our state governors to indeed ensure free education and, their wives will set up foundations or NGOs distributing books and medical kits. They will visit hospitals and settle medical bills of patients while ensuring the press are there to capture the moment
“In the progressive, we don’t buy honour, you work for it you earn it but in the situation, we are now somebody will join a party in June and become a candidate or aspirants in September, it is quite unprogressive. Why do you leave those who have been working and toiling for the party, the progressives of today, especially in Oyo state, has gone merchandise, it has become a product, it has become a commodity.
“We now have all sorts of characters these are things that are alien to us and for us to be able to regain our grove we need to talk to ourselves and know when the rain start beating us. It was when we jettisoned party discipline and principle for a temporary advantage, when you see leaders collecting money from aspirants that is why you now have all sorts of characters as candidates, fraudsters, ex-convicts drug pushers and so on, people who ordinarily cannot enter the house of Awolowo or Bola Ige, so we are not better than the party we are criticising.
“Take it or leave it, the people in government in Oyo state have good a hole around us because they are embarking on populist programmes, all those areas we left untouched are being addressed, people get their salaries when due, the people in government now are executing those programmes to our disadvantage”.
