Charlatans can never administer Oyo again – Ajimobi
Thumping his chest on the journey so far by his government in the last two and half years, Governor Abiola Ajimobi of 
Oyo State has said that charlatans and never-do-wells will never rule the state any longer.
He stated this while commissioning the 10,000-seater cathedral of the Livingspring Chapel in Ibadan on Saturday.
According to him, his government had raised the bar of governance so high that the crop of those who once administered the state would find it hard to cope with the mental rigour of governance of the state.
“We have changed the landscape of governance in our state and have raised the bar so high that never will charlatans and never-do-wells administer Oyo State any longer. We are re-contexting governance, so much that those who cannot cope with the mental rigour that it requires would not dare move near it. Governance in our state is no longer for anyone who can shed rivers of blood; it is for those who can exercise their mental faculty enough, for the ultimate development of our people,” he said.
While urging Christians in the state not to relent in their prayers for the success of his government, Ajimobi stated that evil people were still lurking around.
According to him, there was the need for the church of God not to rest on its oars in its spiritual intervention for the success of his government.
“I want to enjoin you all not to relent in your prayers for the success of our government. The principalities and powers whom your prayers uprooted in 2011 have not given up. Continue to pray for the eventual triumph of good over evil, that God will vanquish all those who desire to drag back our state to the rung of the ladder it used to occupy,” he said.
Governor Ajimobi said he made it a point of duty to attend the commissioning of the church’s tabernacle as a way of acknowledging the prayers of the church of God for his eventual triumph in the race for the 2011 elections.
“I am here specifically to appreciate the prayers of the body of Christ – pastors, ministers of God in general and the congregation at large – which led to our victory in the 2011 elections. I confirm that it was those ceaseless prayers, offered from the tabernacle of faith and in the closets of the children of God, which brought us into office. As the electioneering process commenced, it was apparent that we were not only going to fight flesh and blood, but principalities and power, as well as spiritual forces in high and low places.
“Indeed, we were like the biblical David which was poised to fight a battle with Goliath. At every point, however, we felt the spears and arrows of prayers from the body of Christ piercing the stronghold of the principalities. At the end of the day, the prayers of the righteous availeth,” Ajimobi said.
The governor said that, as a way of reporting to the electorate in the church, he was happy to “have made you proud as children of God.”
“Immediately we came into office, following best practices in the world, we constructed a hierarchy of the people’s needs, like the Maslow’s theory of needs. At the top of that hierarchy was the security of lives and property. You will recall that, prior to our coming into office, our state was renowned for shedding of blood and brigandage. Through our God-given sagacity and investment in the process of winning peace, we have now ensured that the people of our state sleep with their two eyes closed.
“Next on the pyramid is environmental sustainability. Again, we are all living witnesses to the profiling of our state and its capital as one of the dirtiest in Nigeria. This made investors to flee from our state. Immediately we came into office, we focused on uplifting the aesthetics of our state, in line with best practices that obtain in cities of the world. I am proud to announce to you that today, Oyo State and its capital are inviting and have succeeded in inviting investors who are fascinated by our state’s new aesthetics and peaceful atmosphere.
“Aggressive infrastructure is next on the ladder. So far, we have embarked on construction of quality dualized roads which are attracting kudos to all Oyo State indigenes all over the world. We are dualizing two roads in Ibadan and in all the zones of the state which include Oyo, Ogbomoso and Iseyin. The Federal Capital Territory of Abuja used to be the only place where you could get roads of the quality that are being constructed in Oyo State. For all these, we give God the glory,” the governor said.
In his speech, the Pastor-in-Charge of the church, Pastor Femi Emmanuel, thanked the governor for witnessing the commissioning of the cathedral, stating that it was to mark the 20 years of “our impactful existence as a church.”