Oyo 2019: Akintola deserves our total support –Alaafin

Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi (right) with Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN), during a courtesy visit by the latter to the Alaafin.

Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi, has appealed to the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at both state and national levels to ensure that the governorship ambition of Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN) received their blessings.

He made the remark when the legal luminary paid him a courtesy visit at the former palace in the ancient city of Oyo town.

The monarch, who described Akintola as a formidable pillar in legal practice, recalled that the aspirant had applied sheer legal prowess to save situations for the progressives on many occasions, especially in the South-West.

Oba Adeyemi noted that the likes of Chief Akintola, whom he further described as knowledgeable and God-fearing, should always vie for leadership across tiers in the country.

He said: “If Niyi (Akintola) does not come out, someone else will. When those who are wise and intelligent refuse to contest elections, fools will take over. When the party chooses you, we know the next move.”

Intimating Akintola of the enormity of the burden of leadership if he eventually won the election, Ob

a Adeyemi said: “You (Akintola) have come to work. Some of those who have been made governors, ministers, commissioners are running into hiding today because they soon forget what they were voted in for and deviated from the path. You have come to work. No rest till the last day.”

He commended the incumbent governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, for what he called his “socio-infrastructural renewal across the state,’’ noting that those who ensured a second term mandate for Governor Ajimobi have no cause to regret their action.

Earlier, in his remarks, the aspirant pleaded for the support of the monarch whom he referred to as a father. He said his interest in the governorship race was informed by the need to sustain the enviable legacies of the incumbent governor, Abiola Ajimobi.