The battle to succeed the Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu is gathering momentum as the Secretary to the State Government, Princess Catherine Oladunni Odu formally declared her bid.
She said she remains the best among those seeking the ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and all the opposition parties in next year’s election for the state’s topmost job.
At the Platform, a programme of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the state in Akure, the state capital, she said that having served various governments in different capacities in the last 28 years, she remains the best among the governorship aspirants in terms of experience, education, and exposure to continue with her principal’s legacy.
She said she has looked at the resumes of those who have shown interest in the governorship election in the state within the APC and the opposition parties and said she has the cognate experience to continue the legacies of Governor Akeredolu.
Odu also said it was high time the people of the state produced the first female governor, having tried men who have contributed their quota to the development of the state.
In her words “I am so confident that having the first female governor will not be a difficult thing. It depends on the people and their mindsets, the way we talk to people.
“If you as journalists who have gone far and wide and seen what happens in other climes, if you keep telling people that it is high time we made a woman the governor of the state.
“Let us test a woman. The trailblazing character of Ondo State will start from all of us to convince people, why they should look towards that direction.
“And you are not just talking about anyhow woman but someone whom you have tried and tested. Somebody who has been around here, somebody who knows her onion, somebody who knows the system.
“Because I am bold to say that of all the people who have come out to be aspirants, none of them is as exposed to governance as myself.
“I have been around this place, in and out of governance in the last 27 years. So, I know what governance is. The men have done very well, I am not disputing that but all I am saying is that we should try women.
“A mother, a wife, a sister who has the compassion of motherhood in her. A woman who cannot hear the cry of her baby and turn a deaf ear. Somebody who knows her onion, somebody who will lift the state higher, somebody who is accessible, somebody who will be your person, somebody who will listen to your plights, and somebody who will work for the good of Ondo state.”
She said she is not only talking based on gender alone but also capacity saying women who have the required education and exposure should be allowed to govern the state for the first four years and see the development womenfolk would bring to the state.
