A foremost legal practitioner and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Oyo State, Niyi Akintola, has declared his intention to serve as the next Governor of Oyo State under the platform of the All Progressives Congress.
Akintola, an Ibadan-based Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former Deputy Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, officially declared his gubernatorial ambition during a press conference held at his Ibadan home on Monday.
Speaking during the press conference, Akintola maintained that he is better qualified than many others to become the next landlord of the Agodi Government House in 2023.
While reiterating his personality as a student of the Bola Ige school of thought, he noted that the principles guiding his political aspiration are in line with what he learnt from the late Cicero of Esa Oke.
Responding to questions regarding his effort to be named the party’s flagbearer for the same position in 2019, Akintola, who, OYOINSIGHT.COM recalls, had to step down a few hours before the party’s primaries, explained that no one can implore him to do something similar again.
“What I did in 2018, nobody can tell me to do that again, I will not listen because Falcon would no longer hear Falconets. What I did in 2018, nobody dare tell me that now. I have been hear since 1998,” Akintola noted.
“We have some leaders who expect you to come and kowtow in their houses to get political positions but I don’t belong to that class because Bola Ige didn’t teach me that way. He taught me to face my job. As a matter of fact, to us in the Progressives then, politics was not a profession, it was a mere occupation.”
Speaking on the internal crisis within the state chapter of the party, the Senior Advocate noted that the national leadership of the party must intervene to find a lasting solution to the issue.
He noted that the reconciliation effort must be a deliberate and coordinated one that seeks to truly harmonize all aggrieved tendencies within the party.
Meanwhile, Akintola believes the recent declaration of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to run for the office of the President, is not a cause for alarm.
He noted that the law Professor is within his rights because as a qualified Nigerian, he has the inalienable right to contest for any political office.
