I Want to Serve Ogun to Touch Lives, Says Opayemi  

By Femi Ogbonnikan in Abeokuta

An Ogun State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant, Owodunni Opayemi, has disclosed that his political ambition to serve the state is to touch the lives of the people.

Opayemi, who hails from Ikenne-Remo said he has refrained to join the fray of most technocrats that complain a lot and see politics as a dirty game but decided to take active part in order to serve his motherland and touch the lives of the people of the state.

Addressing a few journalists in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, at the weekend, he stated that his interest in politics was borne out of the need to bring into bear something that would impact positively on the socio-economic affairs of Ogun State.

According to Opayemi, he said he has, in the last three years, begun consultation across all the three senatorial districts in the state in aid of his governorship ambition, a development he claimed has placed him more in a better edge than his co-contenders in the race.

“My interest is to serve my motherland. If I had wanted to make myself available for a ministerial slot I would have done so, but the people that know much about me have beckoned on me to jettison the ministerial position idea and opt for the governorship seat where I can directly touch the lives of the people of Ogun State.

“So, that is why I have made myself available for the upcoming 2019 Ogun State governorship race. I want to govern Ogun State and turn things around for the good. Our people in Ogun State should allow the right person drive the public sector”, said Opayemi.

However, he stated that he was a recipient of the scholarship scheme of the first executive Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olabisi Onabanjo, while he was in his second year Architecture undergraduate student at the University of Lagos and promised to make education sector his first priority if and when he gets into the office.

“Education is going to be my first priority in the state because I was a beneficiary of the scholarship scheme of the first executive Governor of Ogun State, Chief Victor Olabisi Onabanjo. I applied for the Ogun State scholarship when I was in second year Architecture undergraduate at the University of Lagos and I was offered. Besides, I was also a recipient of the Federal government’s scholarship during my first year at the University of Lagos”, he said.

Meanwhile, Opayemi, 61, pointed out that for continuity the lofty programmes of the present APC-led administration of Senator Ibikunle Amosun requires a better successor, regardless of the senatorial district he comes from, to take up from where he would stop and complete the projects ahead of better days and comfort of the people of Ogun State.

He, therefore, described zoning arrangement as an aberration that is antithetical to socio-economic and cultural growth and development of any state.