• Backs proposed 32 kings for Ibadan
From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
A gubernatorial aspirant in Oyo State, Chief Adeniyi Akintola, has said personality will determine the winner of 2019 governorship election.
Speaking during a media parley with journalists in Ibadan, Akintola said political parties and influential people, he described as ‘gatekeepers’, would also play significant roles in the election.
He said people like him came out to contest because the era of political thuggery and hooliganism had gone for good and added that the current administration in the state had created conducive atmosphere for intellectuals to join politics.
Akintola was optimistic that his personality would enjoy the support of leaders of thoughts, opinion moulders, traditional rulers and elite groups across the state to realise his governorship ambition in 2019.
“My personality cut across the party line. Though party is a factor and it is going to remain a factor in the forthcoming general election in 2019. However, it will depend on personality picked to contest,” he said.
Akintola also threw his weight behind Governor Abiola Ajimobi over the ongoing review of Olubadan chieftaincy declaration of 1957 that is proposing 32 new kings for Ibadanland.
Fielding questions from journalists in Ibadan yesterday, he said the review was long overdue, commending the governor for doing the right thing that would ensure steady development of Ibadanland.
A judicial commission of inquiry on the review of the existing 1957 (1959) Declaration of Olubadan of Ibadanland and other related chieftaincies in Ibadan submitted its report to the governor last week Friday and recommended that Ibadan should have 32 kings.
The commission also recommended reduction of the 22 steps on the line of Otun Olubadan to 11, and 23 steps on the Balogun line to 12, with a view to fast-tracking ascendancy to the stool of Olubadan between the two lines that have been producing Olubadan on rotational basis.
Akintola said: “It was something that ought to have been done long time ago. I think the governor has done the right thing in that circumstance.”