The Social Democratic Party in Ondo State has expressed disappointment with the message of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu to commemorate this year’s “Democracy Day”.
The press Statement, according to SDP Chairman, Hon. Stephen Adewale is empty and fell short of expectation in every way that could be evaluated.
Hon. Adewale alleged that the Press statement, was the worst since Governor Akeredolu assumed office in 2017, saying it was embellished with extraneous issues and executive regurgitations, purposefully designed by his handlers to sway the good people of Ondo State and divert attention from the many failures of his administration.
He noted that statement failed to show even the slightest empathy to millions of citizens groaning under the worst form of dearth, starvation and economic hardship occasioned by the removal of subsidies by the APC-led federal government.
He said:”Every paragraph of the press statement demonstrates Governor Akeredolu’s aloofness to the plight of his people. In actuality, there was no mention of providing palliative measures for the suffering people in Ondo State in the supposed Democratic Day message.
“When other state governors used Democracy Day celebrations as an opportunity to announce progressive and practicable policies to address the economic crisis in their states, our governor’s statement succeeded in demonstrating his lack of concern for the welfare of the same people who twice elected him to office.
“We are in a critical time when the staff of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, threatened to down tools over a non-payment of 13 months salaries. We are in a situation where local government workers are being owed backlog of salaries. Ultimately, we are at the phase where uncertainties hovered around the future of our promising teenagers as many of them risk dropping out because their parents cannot afford to pay for their daily transit to and from school. The Democracy Day gave an opportunity for our governor to address these issues, but he chose not to do so.
“Indeed, the press statement’s lack of empathy demonstrates to us that it must have been issued as a last-minute decision made to spare the governor and the Ondo APC the public outcry that would have resulted from the government’s failure to say anything on such an important day. By introducing significant programmes that would help lessen the impact of the fuel price increase on the good people of Ondo State, they would have taken advantage of the Democracy Day occasion to demonstrate that there were no loopholes in the governance of Ondo State.
” On the contrary, their press statement succeeded in convincing us that the governor’s absence is having an impact on governance by showing us an administration that seems to have lost touch with the state’s current reality.
Efforts to get the reaction of the state government was unsuccessful.
