The Oyo State electorates have been warned not to elect Senator Teslim Folarin on Saturday, saying that he failed to attract any tangible development to the state despite spending 12 years in the Senate.
A group in the state, Oyo Kajola Group (OKG), in a statement on Thursday by its Media Coordinator, Adebayo Ayandele, urged residents of the state not to waste their votes on the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), describing him as a letdown and a huge disappointment to the state.
It said it was condemnable that Folarin failed to facilitate any major project to the state despite having served for three terms and being a Senate Leader at some point.
Ayandele noted that unlike Folarin, other Oyo State indigenes who found themselves at vantage positions at the federal level were able to bring massive developments to the state, insisting that the group has it on good authority that Folarin was only interested in amassing personal wealth and cornering opportunities meant for the state.
He added that the APC candidate, apart from being a failure in the National Assembly, has a curious historical romance with violence, which it said he cannot wish away despite spending millions to launder his image.
According to the group, though the former Senate Leader has been sponsoring everyone to deny his involvement in the killing of Eleweomo, he cannot dryclean his image on the violent way he hijacked the PDP governorship ticket in 2015 or the widely reported attempts on the lives of Chief Adebayo Adelabu and Hon. Shina Peller, by APC thugs, following another violent takeover of the APC in 2022.
The statement read in part, “On Saturday, 18th March, 2023, do not waste your vote on the Oyo State APC Governorship Candidate, Senator Teslim Folarin, who spent 12 years in the Senate but has no major achievement to show!
“Senator Hosea Agboola of the PDP spent only four years in the Senate and he was instrumental to the resuscitation of the UCH Annex, Sepeteri, Oyo State.
“Senator Ayoade Adeseun and Hon. Segun Odebunmi were able to facilitate Ayede Polytechnic and Radio Nigeria branch to their domains, despite spending lesser years in the National Assembly.
“The member of the House of Representatives representing Ibadan North-East/South-East, Hon. Abass Adigun Agboworin, is a first-timer in the National Assembly, but he successfully facilitated the siting of the biggest Air Force Base in the country, located in Ajia, Ona Ara Local Government.
“However, with Teslim Folarin as Senator for 12 years, four of which he spent as Senate Leader, Ibadan Water Reticulation Project could have been facilitated but he failed.
“He could have facilitated the upgrade of the Ibadan Airport to an international airport as Senators from the South-East, South-South and North West, did for the Enugu, Port Harcourt and Kaduna Airports, but Folarin failed. Thank God for Makinde, who is just putting such efforts in place now.
“As senator, Folarin could have also facilitated the remodelling and upgrade of UCH Ibadan but he failed. The Liberty Stadium, Ibadan could have been upgraded and rehabilitated like Seyi Makinde did to Lekan Salami Sport Complex, but Folarin failed on this too.
“The Ibadan-Ilorin Expressway remains uncompleted after 22 years, 12 of which Teslim Folarin has been in the Senate.
“We wonder how an individual who got the greatest opportunity by any National Assembly member from Oyo State but failed to make any impact on the state could turn around to parade himself as the best thing to ever happen to the state and it is on this note that we charge Oyo State residents not to reward failure and mediocrity.
“On Saturday, put Folarin in his place by voting for the continuity of Governor Seyi Makinde, so that the APC Governorship Candidate will know that Oyo State people cannot be taken for a ride.
“A vote for APC is a reward for failure and mediocrity; it is not about religion or any other sentiment, it is simply about the interest of Oyo State and Folarin has proven in 12 years that he does not give a damn about Oyo State.”
