Civil society group, Ondo Redemption Front, has decried the dearth of development in Ondo State amid its abundant resources. This is as the state prepares to celebrate 50 on February 3.
Speaking at a news conference yesterday, Chairman, Ayodeji Ologun, said despite bad governance over the years, the people will still celebrate their resilience, history, unbreakable hope and enduring determination to reclaim their state from failure and misrule.
Ologun said: “Milestones demand reflection, and reflection demands courage. At 50, the state must not pretend that all is well when evidence shows governance has lost direction.
“As our state approaches 50 February 3, this moment ought to be one of deep reflection, proud stock-taking, and bold recommitment to progress.
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“Sadly, what confronts us today is not a state preparing to celebrate achievement, but a state scrambling to decorate failure with empty rhetoric.
“Fifty years is not a small journey. It is long enough for a serious government to point to enduring legacies, projects that changed lives, strong institutions, and systems that work.
“Ondo State is blessed with sophisticated, educated, and resourceful people. Our problem has never been a lack of human capital.
“Our tragedy is a leadership that surrounds itself with stacked mediocres, men and women without capacity for innovation, vision, or courage, who mistake loyalty for competence and proximity to power for performance.”
He said Ondo deserves leadership that builds, not leadership that manages decline.