2023: Ogun governorship seat not for highest bidder – Segun Showunmi
Bankole Taiwo, Abeokuta
A leading governorship aspirant for Ogun State under Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Otunba Segun Showunmi has disclosed that, the choice of who become the next governor of the state in 2023 will not be a function of deep pockets and moneybags
Otunba Segun Showunmi, ex-Spokesman to former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said that the people of the state are too sophisticated to vote in someone as governor just because he enjoys throwing his weight and money all around without having the capability to give good governance and change the narratives for good for the residents of the state.
He declared that the gubernatorial election in the state can never be for the highest bidder but rather one that is driven by issue-based campaigns on how to fix the state and inspire the younger generation.
Showunmi spoke at his Abeokuta residence during Iftar (breaking of Ramadan fast) with journalists in the state.
“Ogun can never be for the highest bidder. It has never been for the highest bidder. It will never be for the highest bidder.
“We are noble people. We just don’t think that you should be throwing your weight around. We are not people that are coming to you with money. We are people of parents who have given us pedigree who have shown us handwork, values and insisted on us that it can be done,” he said.
Showunmi who promised to run a government with “complete paradigm shift from the status quo” has equally promised to send to jail those who might have pilfer the resources of the state in the past saying that he too should also not be spared if found guilty of squandering the Commonwealth of the state.
The governorship aspirant expressed worry that the state had been plunged into debt as it would require a new administrator to renegotiate the debt.
He said “I’m chasing immortality by the policies and programmes that we will run here. And if one day you find me a thief, jail me, because I will jail those who have stolen before me.
“Let nobody be deceived, I’m not asking to lead Ogun so that we can pamper ourselves. No.
“Government business is a sacred trust which you hold on behalf of all the collectives.
“This is Ogun. The vast majority of people living here are bona-fide citizens of this place whose parents are the owners of this land. You can not be in charge of our land, assets, taxes and goodwill, and all you will do is to steal and they will not probe you? You must be joking.”
He said “I’m interested in leading Ogun so that we may do three things. If we win, go and start a new deal. Whatever it is that they are limping on, called Obafemi Awolowo’s model needs to be rewritten, extended and redesigned.
“How do you explain that you can’t find Igbo people begging for money and it is Awolowo’s children littering the place doing “Babiya Allah”, a thing that was alien to our grandparents. Our grandparents didn’t really go to school, but do any of you have a recollection of your grandparents running up and down in the streets, begging for money? So, it means our model is not working.
“If our model is working, why are our people poor?”
He also accused the state government of paying lip service to security, education and development issues in the state.
Sowunmi insisted that biometric capturing of residents would assist in easy identification of culprits each time an offence is committed for diligent prosecution.
