The Chief of Staff to Governor Abiola Ajimobi, Dr Gbade Ojo, has explained why he didn’t show interest in becoming the governor of the state before the primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Ojo, who spoke in a recent interview, said that “It is not that I did not desire to become governor of the state, but as a political scientist, and with all humility, I want to say I know better. If one wants to become a governor, and one is in an opposition party, then one can throw his hat into the ring. However, if one is serving in the system, and working with a governor who wants to produce a successor, then one doesn’t need to struggle.
“When a governor is not going for a third term, it is the responsibility of that governor to determine who should succeed him. When some people were spending money, printing billboards, posters, among others, I was just smiling. Except the governor calls you in private, saying from what he has seen in you, he wants you to succeed him based on certain qualities you have, that is when you can go ahead. However, if your principal does not tell you he wants you to succeed him, and you want to slug it out to attain the position at all cost, then political scientists see such a person as being disloyal. If you are loyal to your principal, you allow him decide what he wants to do.
“There is a difference between advising and you imposing your own will on your principal. In Lagos, during the era of Senator Bola Tinubu, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, who was the chief of staff, was not the only person working for the governor; in Osun, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola is not the only person working for Governor Rauf Aregbesola, and both Senator Tinubu and Governor Aregbesola must have seen certain qualities in their successors, so in Oyo State, we should give the governor the opportunity to decide who succeeds him. It is not that I could not print billboards or posters, but out of respect for my principal, I allowed him to make his decision.”
Speaking on the qualities Ajimobi has that the average resident of the state does not know about, Ojo disclosed that “Having run the state for seven years now, the people of the state would have known one or two things about their governor. However, as a social scientist, the way Mr A sees object A, will not be the same way Mr B will see the same object A. I got to know Senator Abiola Ajimobi before he became governor, and I related with him as an elder brother from Ibadan.
“So when he became governor and invited me into government, I saw it as an opportunity to go out of the university system, gain some experience in my academic field, and return to the university as a better teacher of political science, as well as a better preacher in the church, so the governor, being a sufficiently-educated person, with a first degree and two Masters’ degrees from the United States, and having worked in the private sector in multinational corporations for years, is sufficiently-exposed in terms of making decisions. I can say that he is a better decision-maker than people who were governors before him.
“I am saying this because we are in an era in which the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is insufficient, and he doesn’t want to overburden the citizenry with taxation, while the statutory allocation from the Federal Government is equally dwindling, so it is only a governor who has a background of economics, business management and public finance who can turn things around in this situation, and the governor has all these and that is why he has been able to successfully manage the affairs of the state. I, therefore, see him as a better governor than others who came before him,” he submitted.
