The PDP Governorship Candidate, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim, yesterday, said his mission is to take the state from “the hopeless situation it is now to a very hopeful situation.”
Addressing newsmen in Akure, for the first time after he was declared the party’s candidate, Ibrahim said: “I need to take away injustice, we cannot afford to have a senatorial district producing governors for 16 years at ago. That is complete injustice, that is hopeless and we will not allow that, and that will not happen in Ondo State.’’
On why he is not going round to campaign ahead of the election, he said: “This is not my first time of running for the governorship of the state. In 2003, I ran for the governorship of the state under ANPP. So, politics is not new and I’m not like those people who are running for the first time, only to do all the work by moving to all the nooks and crannies of Ondo state. I am not new to the people of Ondo State. I ran before and I have very impressive result at the last engagement when I ran for the governorship of this state. It’s my ambition to become the governor of this state and I’m back to realise that ambition.’’
On the ambition of Eyitayo Jegede, who is in court to retrieve the PDP ticket from him, Mr. Ibrahim said: “Jegede is brand new in the system, he’s new and let him take his time, it took me from 2008 to the present date to enjoy this political legitimacy. You cannot come just in one day and begin to think you can win election like that in Ondo State. Nobody comes and enters like that. Take your time and queue behind.’’
On his first priority, if elected, he said: “My priority is the payment of outstanding salaries of workforce because it is the workforce that can deliver the dividends of democracy or deliver efficiency and effectiveness. The public service is really my own major focus. I want them to be trained and retrained and I want them to be first among equals in public service spectrum in Nigeria.’’
He assured of a massive industrial revolution and utilization of natural resources for sea-ports adding that his government would provide conducive atmosphere through partial tax integration system to attract more investors into the state.
He said that he would establish the Ondo State Infrastructural Development Commission, which will diagnose the state of infrastructure in the state.
He continued: “Within six months in office, most of the secondary schools in the state would return to the boarding school system, which would be institutionalized through government policy. These are the things we intend to do when I become the governor of this state. We want to affect education and employment; we want to ensure efficiency, capability development and innovation in the workforce.”
He promised a “strong data bank, upgrading of Board of Internal Revenue to a full-fledged ministry adding that he would scrap the Ministry of Special Duties and rename it Ministry of Employment to tackle unemployment in the state.
