Human rights activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 elections, Omoyele Sowore, has expressed concern over what he described as the absence of development in Ondo State.
According to Sowore, an indigene of the state, who hails from Kiribo, Ese-Odo Local Government Area, stressed that the state ought to be mourning poor governance and not the declaration of public holidays.
Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa had declared Monday and Tuesday public holidays for residents of the state in order to be part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the state.
Sowore, who is the convener of the #RevolutionNow and Take-It-Back movements, stated the state has been stagnant under the watch of Aiyedatiwa with the absence of a developmental or renewal plan.
He said, “It would be more fitting for Ondo State citizens to aid Governor Hon. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa in proclaiming a day of mourning over poor governance rather than observing a public holiday for the state’s 50th anniversary.
“Ondo @50 has been reduced to little more than spectacle and fluff under Hon. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa’s watch. There are no refurbished schools to showcase. No bridges built.
“No completed roads to commission. No hospitals to open, and no concrete security achievements to speak of.
“Instead of milestones, citizens are offered pageantry; instead of progress, some physical dance performance.”
At 50, Ondo State is not marking development or renewal but merely dancing around its own stagnation while thuggery thrives and governance remains conspicuously absent.”
Meanwhile, an aide to the governor, Yomi Oyekan, stated that Sowore does not understand the governance, hence the constant attack on constituted authorities.
Oyekan, who is a Senior Special Assistant to Aiyedatiwa, said, “Running a state is not running a Twitter space. Institutions are not built with rage, and development is not measured by how angry a post sounds. What’s more disappointing is that this comes from an Ondo son, someone who should understand the depth of our challenges. Instead of offering insight, timelines, or comparative analysis, you default to exaggeration: “nothing exists, nothing works, everything is fluff.” That’s not bravery; that’s intellectual laziness.
“You claim high morality while you’ve never allowed democracy in the political party you founded. At some point, perpetual outrage stops looking like activism and starts looking like irrelevance. When a man spends years announcing collapse everywhere, people eventually stop asking him for direction.”
