Fresh FM Demolition: Ajimobi’s Ex- Chief Of Staff Advises Governor To Imbibe Virtue Of Compassion

A former Chief of Staff to Gov. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State,  Prof. Adeolu Akande, has appealed to the governor to restore the virtue of compassion into his government.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Akande, a Political Science lecturer at Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo, was Chief of  Staff to Ajimobi during his first term in office. The don made the appeal in a statement issued on Wednesday.

Akande said  recent actions of the government suggest that some elements in the Ajimobi-led administration had  forgotten that the administration emerged in 2011 with a promise to protect the welfare of the people.

“Many recent actions of the government are at variance with its disposition at inception in 2011.

“This suggests that some forces who are not privy to the pledge of Ajimobi to the people have made ascendancy in the government to the detriment of what the government stood for at inception,” he said

He said  no administration  without the element of compassion would go down in history as  successful.

Akande said  that the primary responsibility of any government was to protect lives and property, adding that  the sacredness of private property comes after preservation of life in terms of importance.

“A government has a duty to make all necessary measures to protect the property of private citizens just as it has a duty to protect their lives,” he stated.

He said that the furore generated by the demolition of the property of  Yinka Ayefele, a popular musician,  must have demonstrated to the government by now that it was an unpopular decision.

“Government is about the people and not the anger and emotions of the people in government.

“ The Yoruba captures this truism when they say  a ruler rules with wisdom and not with stubbornness.

“The Ayefele saga has once again brought to the fore the need for the governor to rethink his government and review its personnel and focus  as he embarks on his homestretch so that history can be kind to him,’’ he said.

Akande said he  was pained that the lofty ideals that endeared the governor to the people in the early years had  been abandoned and replaced with practices that could  wipe out such achievements.

“It is more painful that many of the personnel who encourage controversial government decisions and actions claim innocence in private conversations and never identified themselves with those decisions, even in public,” he said.

Akande urged the governor to rethink his posture on the demolition of the building belonging to Ayefele and make amendments that would restore public confidence in his person and administration.

“Ayefele means many things to many people. His rise to grace in spite of a major life challenge makes him a model for a good percentage of our people.

“As a musician, he has been the purveyor of joy and happiness to many of us because of his melodious and philosophical music.