A few weeks ago, the high, the low, the mighty and the peasants converged in Midas Resort Centre, Owo for the traditional wedding of Teni Akeredolu and her husband. Teni is the daughter of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu. Apart from the fact that the traditional wedding was turned into a purely political rally with attendance not restricted to only members of the All Progressives Congress(APC), which Akeredolu is a member of. There was controversy over the actual amount spent to organize the party with some claiming it was well over #100m. Not long after, the father of the bride, Governor Akeredolu, went AWOL and resurfaced in Abuja with question marks all over his health status. After spending over 50 days away from his primary place of assignment, Akeredolu touched down in Akure to a large party thrown for him straight from the Airport and then later on in Owo, his home town. Again, controversy trailed how much was expended on the welcome party and the need for it. Just two days ago, pictures started filtering in from a beach on the bank of the Indian Ocean in Mauritius, of the white wedding of Teni and her hubby with over 150 people from Ondo State and beyond. Again, Ondo State people are asking how much of their tax is spent on the joyful journey to Mauritius.
It is a known fact to all who have observed that Rotimi Akeredolu is in love with parties. However, his choice of Mauritius is not only hypocritical but also testify to the fact that Akeredolu has no love for the development of Ondo State. Get this straight; that the first family went abroad to give out their daughter is nothing new in this part of the world. It has happened before and this won't be the last. My grouse is that Mauritius offers nothing new that can't be gotten from Ondo State. One would wonder if the self professed love Akeredolu has for Ondo State has any effect on the choice of Mauritius as the venue for the overseas wedding trip. The story of Mauritius is a spectacular one. Since independence from Britain in 1968, Mauritius has developed from a low income, agriculture based economy to an upper middle-income diversified economy, based on tourism, textiles, sugar and financial services. In recent years, information and communication technology, seafood, hospitality and property development, healthcare, renewable energy, and education have emerged as important sectors attracting substantial investment from both local and foreign investors. It may interest you to know that Mauritius has no exploitable fossil fuel and so have to rely on petroleum to meet most of its energy requirements. Do you know Mauritius has one of the largest exclusive economic zones in the world like our very own Olokola Free Trade Zone?
The refusal of Nigeria's political class to learn from their numerous adventures out of the country is one of the banes of our development. Ondo State and Mauritius has everything in common except good leadership. While our political leaders have refused to develop our natural beauty, they seek what's in abundance here outside. Araromi Beach in Ilaje local government is better and has more potentials than the Long Beach in Mauritius. The refusal of Akeredolu, his predecessors to develop Araromi has ensured the neglect of the longest beach/coast line in Africa. Hence the reason to waste tax payers money to get something we have in abundance here in far away Mauritius. Ask yourself, would the President of Mauritius travel to Araromi to give his daughter out in marriage?
As stated earlier, as long as we refuse to develop our tourism industry, we will continue to tolerate our political leaders going on adventures out of the country. Akeredolu failed to make a statement by not using Araromi Beach for his daughter's wedding. If the Governor had used Araromi, it would have greatly impacted on the tourism industry of Ondo State. People would have thronged to Araromi to see what is spectacular about the aesthetically crafted beach. With that singular act, he would have informed us all that he genuinely love the state and would do anything to advance it's development. Now, I can form my opinion that Akeredolu love for Ondo is just lust for our money. Like he destroyed our health sector potentials as bequeathed to him, he won't advance our tourism industry. May the day break?
Wándé T. Àjàyí writes from Ilutitun in Okitipupa Local Government of Ondo State
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