Tag: ekiti south

Australia-based medical doctor and investor Dr. Wole Oluyede has joined the list of governorship aspirants in the Ekiti State All Progressives Congress (APC). He recently unfolded his development blueprint for the state at Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA reports.

A MEDICAL practitioner, Dr Wole Oluyede, has joined the governorship race in Ekiti State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He has visited the party office in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, where he was received by the Acting Chairman, Mrs. Kemisola Olaleye.
On zoning, Oluyede lent his voice to the agitation that the next governor should come from Ekiti South Senatorial District, which is yet to produce a governor.
He said: “In Ekiti South Senatorial District, this party means business. The next governor must come from the South this time around. We have eminent sons and daughters who are qualified. Let us be fair to ourselves.
“I want to plead with contestants, there must be love among us and the unity, stability and interest of this party should be paramount to us. I have spoken with our leaders and former Governors Adebayo, Oni and Fayemi and they are all united in seeing the party win.”
A former member of the House of Assembly, Hon. Tope Agidi, who introduced the aspirant to the party leaders, said Oluyede, apart from his global exposure, identified with Ekiti by investing at home dismissing claims in some quarters that he is a “foreigner.”
Agidi said: “He had his early education in Ekiti and worked as a doctor in Emure, Akure and Lagos. Can that person be referred to as a foreigner? Despite his exposure globally, he is not far from home.
“He visits Ekiti frequently and has investments here; he served as a member of the Knowledge Zone Committee during the administration of Dr. Kayode Fayemi. The body was a think tank to Fayemi and he attends meetings all the way from his base.
“Oluyede is ready to cooperate with progressive-minded people of Ekiti to take our state to greater heights. He has interests in hotel/hospitality, mining, farming, healthcare and other investments”
The aspirant expressed sadness at the the alleged retrogression suffered by Ekiti under the PDP for about two-and-half years. He said had come to heal the state of its afflictions.
The aspirant who was accompanied to the APC secretariat by his wife, Mrs. Olukemi, and his campaign team, hails from Ikere Ekiti in Ekiti South and has been in the progressives camp since his foray into politics.
According to him, he was born into a political family as his father, the late Chief Folarin Oluyede, was a grassroots politician and an APC chieftain till he died in 2013. He said that he served as his father’s driver to various political meetings, rallies and campaigns in his younger days.
After qualifying as a medical doctor in 1986, Oluyede worked in government hospitals in Emure Ekiti, Akure and Lagos. He said he was passionate about Ekiti development hence siting a hotel in his native Ikere and farms in a bid to provide employment for the people
He said he had acquired experience and contacts in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Australia.
Oluyede promised to use agriculture to drive Ekiti economy and halt the over-dependence on allocation from the Federation Account.
He said the average allocation of N2.7 billion for a population of three million people translated to N900 per person. He described agriculture as the catalyst for developing the economy. He promised to be a “farmer-governor.”
The aspirant said that Ekiti will benefit from an $18 million investment in oil palm by a Malaysian firm in Africa pledging that the palm tree project would be executed whether he realizes his governorship ambition or not adding that he sealed the deal with Malaysian investors during a recent trip to the country.
He explained that 10,000 palm trees will be planted under the project to give employment opportunities to Ekiti indigenes and make the state depend less on the Federal Government for revenue.
Oluyede, who pledged to use agriculture to drive the economy of the state, said he would cultivate a farm as a governor to encourage the youths, civil servants and artisans to take to farming.
He said: “I will lay example on how we should all go back to the farm. I will be a governor who farms. I went to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia recently and I visited an oil palm plantation which was a 10,000 acre farmland.
On education, Oluyede promised to reintroduce boarding system to enhance academic excellence. He lamented that parents sent their wards to Ghana and Dubai to acquire education.
He recalled that when secondary schools ran boarding system, Ikere had about ten bakeries run by schools, which were producing bread.
Oluyede explained that he had developed health policies and programmes for other countries and international community, promising to replicate them, if he becomes governor.
He promised to make health facilities attractive to the people of the state by recruiting the best health personnel, equipping health centers with best medical equipment and make drugs available.
Oluyede said now is the best time for APC to win the Ekiti governorship crown calling on members and leaders of the party to be focused and united to ensure that the goal is achieved.
The aspirant expressed optimism that there would be no post-primary crisis in the party describing fellow contestants as one. He said the party would hold a thanksgiving service after the primary saying: “whether I win or lose, I will participate at the thanksgiving.”
The wife of the aspirant, Mrs. Oluyede described women as very important in politics and governance promising that the administration led by her husband would empower women and give them a sense of belonging in decision-making.
Mrs. Oluyede said: “Women are very important and that is why they say ‘train a woman an, train the nation.’ If we win by the grace of God, we will all sit down together and address all these issues together.
“Women hold the aces if they know how to use the power and influence given to them by God. Women, this is our time, we are going to enhance the status of women in politics, governance and empowerment.”
APC State Secretary, Paul Omotoso, said Oluyede is not strange to the state executive of the party praising him for assisting the party in picking the bill of payment of the secretariat staff and spending his resources to mobilize members for the party.
But state Acting Chairman, Mrs. Olaleye said many people who are claiming to be aspirants of the party on Facebook and WhatsApp are unknown to party members and leaders and had not identified with the party.
Mrs. Olaleye described Oluyede as a committed member who rescued the party when it was in a financial mess and had nobody to assist. She said the situation was so bad that party could not pay salaries of the staff but Oluyede assisted by sending money to pay all arrears owed secretariat staff.
She also commended Oluyede for remembering party members during the last Christmas with the purchase of bags of rice which made the faithful had a memorable Yuletide despite the fact that the party is not in power at state level.
The party boss described all aspirants wishing to contest for the ticket as “our children” advising their supporters to shun rumour mongering and setting the aspirants against one another.
Mrs. Olaleye said: “All of us own the party but it is good to be good because you assisted the party in the past and your wife also assisted the party in the past. Dr. Oluyede is one of the best materials in the party and we appreciate what you have done.
“By August this year, we will separate the boys from the men because some of those calling themselves aspirants want to use the title to negotiate and get other positions like commissioners, boards or even supervisors.
“There is nothing like Tokunbo in our party; I want to urge our members to desist from pulling one another down. If you have faith in Oluyede, stand with him and if you don’t have faith in him, pull out.
“It is not good to be doing something in his presence and doing another thing in his absence. This party is one, it belongs to us and we must work for the unity of all our aspirants showing interest to be our candidate and I believe our party will win the next governorship election.”