TheCable

Abdulyekin Abilagbo, a former ambassador of Nigeria to Sierra Lone, says statements made by Osun gubernatorial aspirants are polarising state.

Speaking with journalists on Wednesday, Abilagbo expressed concern that some people were fanning the embers of religion and ethnicity.

“It is so worrisome that most of those aspiring to govern the state has not come up with the blueprints and programmes of vision for the state; instead most of those aspirants are busy championing the issue of sectionalism and zoning,” he said.

“Is it not laughable in this time and age that people are still fanning the ember of religion and ethnicity.

“We were alive and can bear testament to the 1993 presidential election where MKO Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe, both Muslims contested on the same platform and enjoyed wide acceptability in all zones of Nigeria purposely because he ran qualitative and people friendly manifesto, what has become of us today, are we retarding or what.”

He lamented that the aspirants have neglected democratic principles such as consultation and robust selling of programmes and policies to the the people.

“Till date, it is only the chief of staff to Aregbesola; Gboyega Oyetola whom I watched on television that has communicated expressly his designs and plans for our state,” the former ambassador said.

“The imaginable difference and deduction from this is that he seems to be the only who understands the strengths, opportunities and challenges of the state and more prepared to administer Osun, he stressed further.

“At the moment, the state government is unable to meet her full statutory obligations to  civil servants, none of my kinsmen is talking about improvement in IGR for sustainability and sufficiency, what should be paramount in the mind of every right-thinking aspirants is how to further project our state into greater heights, formulate policies that will make our state the food basket of the south-west, that will industrialize the state and bring improved turnaround in our internally generated revenue so as to drive our economy.”