Prince Dapo Abiodun, the governor of Ogun State, stated on Wednesday that he had served his political share and was unaffected by a number of remarks and posts on social media that indicated he wasn’t doing his job as governor.
He claimed that the fact that he has been made a governor at the age of 35 demonstrated his experience in the field and the fact that others could sense his influence without his having to blow his own trumpet.
Abiodun stated this when he met with the coalition of young organisations in the state at the Governor’s Office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
He said that his administration had made progress in the areas of infrastructure, security, health, and education since without these areas, significant socioeconomic development would not be possible.
“I normally don’t get disturbed by such things,” Abiodun said, speaking about the recent attacks on his person and administration on social media. “One of my mentors in politics told me that in politics, you must make sure that you are mentioned, either for the right or wrong reasons, but be continuously mentioned because if you are not mentioned, you are just part of the crowd.”
He continued, “For me, I am not bothered that I have been under attack by faceless people on social media because I know what I am. I know who I am. I know what I did before I became governor. I know how long I have been on this journey.
“I became a senator before I was 35, the youngest at that time and I have been on this space in the state contesting on different platforms from that time until God decided that He was going to make me a governor and someone would imagine that after all that I had gone through to get to this position, all I will do is to be biting my fingernails. That person must be a joke.
“I became the governor under the most torturous and most difficult circumstances. I can’t go through that baptism of fire to get to the office and become complacent. Our Internally Generated Revenue was around N50 billion a year before. But in four years, we have grown it to almost N200 billion, and someone says Dapo Abiodun is just sitting in Ogun State and doing nothing. That has to be a joke.”
Abiodun took the time to outline some of the main policy tenets and the course of his administration’s last five years, emphasizing that the ISEYA mantra—which stands for infrastructure, social welfare and wellbeing, education, youth empowerment and job creation, and agriculture—was followed.
Instead of participating in protests that would endanger the nation further, he urged young Nigerians to work with the administration in a constructive manner to find long-term answers to the country’s issues.
It has been reported that from August 1 to August 10, 2024, some members of the #EndbadgovernanceinNigeria# movement promised to stage a demonstration in response to the country’s current economic crisis.
The governor claimed that protests might only make problems worse rather than necessarily finding solutions, recalling the loss of lives and property brought on by the nationwide EndSARS demonstrations in 2020.
“There is a Yoruba proverb that says ‘beheading is not the solution for a headache’. If there are issues, let us discuss them, let us find a way around them, and let us manage and correct them. Let us not cut off the head or attempt to cut off the head because of a headache. That will amount to decapitation,” Abiodun advised.
He claimed that because Nigeria, like many other nations, was going through a trying period, it was important for the young people to contribute their energy, zeal, inventiveness, and technical know-how to help solve the issues.
