IN preparation towards 2019 general election, the guber candidate of All Progressive Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Oloye Adebayo Adelabu, have received another boost as stakeholders in Oil and Gas Sector threw their weight behind his candidacy.
As Adelabu disclosed, “many people misinterpreted my resignation as the Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to join governorship contest in Oyo State, as someone who doesn’t know the next to right”
The Oyo State chapter of the Oil and Gas Stakeholders Association made their intentions known at a meeting with the APC governorship candidate at the Banquet Hall of the Premier Hotel, Mokola, Ibadan, the state Capital.
The meeting was said to be facilitated by Jericho Businessmen Club, which Bayo Adelabu was a member, as part of their contribution to the aspiration of their member. Also had in attendance are, leaders of the club; Mogaji Remi Babalola, Mr. Bola Jaiyeola, Mogaji Taiwo Akande, Barrister Bayo Adepoju and Mr. Abiodun Yusuff.
The leadership of the Oil and Gas Stakeholders in Oyo state were by Otunba Salmon Oladiti (SAO), National President of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD); Elder Kehinde Babalola, Chairman of Ibadan Unit of the PTD; Alhaji Raheem Tayo, Chairman of Ibadan unit of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN); and Alhaji Taofeek Akinyosoye, Chairman of Ibadan unit of the Independent Marketers Board (IMB).
While speaking, Otunba Salmon Oladiti revealed that the oil and gas stakeholders decided to throw their weight behind Adelabu, because of his desires to build on the good foundation of good governance already laid by incumbent Governor Abiola Ajimobi of the state, saying that the association always support politicians who have the love of masses at heart, and his intention to create more enabling environment for their own business to thrive.
While noting that no governor had performed like Governor Ajimobi in Oyo state since 1999, the PTD National President declared that the state deserves continuity like Lagos state.
According to him, successive administrations in Lagos state have continued to build on the solid foundation laid by former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Governor Ajimobi has laid a good and solid foundation for the socioeconomic and political development of Oyo state. Oyo state deserves continuity like Lagos state. We need a governor who will build on the foundation laid by Ajimobi.”
“We should not go back to Egypt, and that is the reason why we have decided to support Adelabu Penkelemesi. We are doing this because of the faith we have in his ability and credibility. He had served in both private and public sectors of the banking industry. He used his position of the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to bring development to Oyo state”.
In his own address, the Oyo APC governorship candidate clarified that, his entrance into politics is not to make money, but to touch the lives of the masses of the state, as his late grandfather, Late Adegoke Adelabu, used to do during his lifetime.
Adelabu said: ” If I am after money, I should not have resigned my appointment as the Deputy Governor of CBN. My mission is the renewal of my family’s good name. I have benefitted a lot from my grandfather’s good name. I must also leave a good name for my own children and grandchildren”.
“People thought that I was mad when I resigned as the Deputy Governor of CBN. My determination to serve my people made me to resign, my love for Oyo state and the masses made me to resign. I love Oyo state, and my intention is to get closer to my people.”
“I never spent a weekend in Abuja throughout the period of four years and three months I spent as the Deputy Governor of CBN. There are 52 weekends in a year, and about 208 in four years. I always came to spend my weekends in Ibadan because of the passion that I have for my state” he concluded.
