The Sharafadeen Alli Campaign Organisation (SSACO) has fired back at Governor Seyi Makinde and the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM) candidate Hon. Bimbo Adekanmbi.
The two men claim that Senator Sharafadeen Alli copied Makinde government policies in the Oyo AHEAD manifesto. SSACO calls that a lie, peddled by men dodging questions on key governance issues.
The Oyo AHEAD manifesto has become a headache for both camps. It offers practical solutions in education, health, agriculture, grassroots and youth development as the Oyo governorship election 2027 draws closer. Makinde has described it as a collection of recycled promises, and the APM insists it is a repeat of existing government programmes.
Oyo AHEAD manifesto: “You cannot copy what you have lived”
In a statement, SSACO’s Director of Media and Publicity, Bisi Oladele, reminded Adekanmbi and Makinde that Alli is no neophyte but a well-groomed public sector expert with experience across sectors.
“Alli is not a newcomer learning governance from press releases. He was a Council Chairman, Secretary to the State Government, Chief of Staff and is now a serving Senator. That experience from the ward to the Senate is what positions him as the best for Oyo State. You cannot copy what you have lived,” the statement said.
SSACO said the governor and his candidate have deliberately refused to address the real concerns the manifesto raises: local government paralysis, under-staffed PHCs and state hospitals, poorly funded schools and out-of-school children.
Local government paralysis and the Oyo AHEAD manifesto’s Day One order
“Since 2019, Oyo’s 33 local governments have received about ₦873 billion from FAAC, yet not one council budget is published online,” the statement added. Alli’s answer, it said, is an Executive Order on Day One to guarantee local government autonomy. The order would also fix a payment date for councils and ensure monthly remittance of the 10 per cent of state revenue due to them, so that governance percolates to the grassroots.
Empty hospitals: where the copying claim collapses
On health, SSACO said the copying claim collapses on its own facts. It cited six councils with no general hospital at all. It also cited six general hospitals with no doctor as at last October, and 10 hospitals with only one. Primary health centres, it said, have about three workers each against a national standard of 24.
“Alli’s response is not a copied slogan but a system,” SSACO said. The Oyo Care scheme guarantees free healthcare for every infant, every pregnant woman and every resident aged 70 and above. The Oyo AHEAD manifesto also provides for continuous recruitment of health workers, hospital facilities and work tools, medicines on the shelf, solar power for every rural maternity and a public dashboard in every ward.
674,000 out-of-school children and the Oyo AHEAD manifesto’s education plan
On education, SSACO cited the state’s own school census. A public primary classroom holds about 100 pupils, and about 674,000 children aged three to 17 are out of school, the highest in the South-West. Seven in 10 children aged 7 to 14 cannot do basic sums.
The Oyo AHEAD manifesto promises to:
- bring classes back to 30 pupils;
- repair schools in all 33 local governments;
- create a scholarship for the gifted poor child;
- pass an Apprenticeship Law;
- return School Governing Boards to parents and communities.
It adds an agric revolution, a ₦10 billion Youth Fund, homes for low and middle-income earners, and a 20-year warranty on every new road.
“Continuity of failure”: SSACO’s verdict on Adekanmbi
“They claim Oyo is the most liveable state but cannot produce the report, the publisher, or the methodology. They claim Alli copied one-PHC-per-ward, yet our PHCs have three workers instead of 24. That is not implementation. That is abandonment.
“Adekanmbi is not change. He is continuity of failure, continuity of centralisation, continuity of government-as-business. Oyo AHEAD is a correction. It is a covenant. And we will continue to highlight the issues that matter to the well-being of the people of Oyo State,” the statement concluded.
