Ahead of the governorship election in Ekiti State, an aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Engr. Kayode Ojo, has expressed confidence in his abilities to bring the desired change needed in the state.
Ojo spoke in Lagos during an interactive session with the media on his agenda and why he remained the preferred choice.
He said that Ekiti people now understand that stomach infrastructure, introduced by the People’s Democratic Party, PDP’s Governor Ayodele Fayose, is laying a foundation for poverty.
Ojo, 48, who is an entrepreneur, said the state is underdeveloped because many of its past leaders lacked vision and creativity to harness and make the state’s numerous natural resources into productive use.
He said the state can only move to higher level, when people with new ideas and new thinking become their leader, adding that the culture of waiting for federal allocation from Abuja has been a great bane for the underdevelopment of the state. 
“The good people of Ekiti are yearning for a fresh governor and someone from the private sector, someone who has an entrepreneur spirit, who can turn kobo into Naira, someone that can turn value and other resources imbedded in the state to money.
“It is sad that today Nigerians are being fed with lies about what is happening in Ekiti. But the truth of the matter is that in Ekiti today, people are hungrier than they were before the coming of this administration. People of the state are currently in bondage.
“It is the wailings and cry of those innocent people that is motivating me to come into this project. My good track record of achievements is verifiable and I do not need government money to acquire property, or investments.
“People can see that I never held any government post, but God has helped me to build thriving international organisations.
“Yes. We’ve seen people come in from the private sector and disappoint in government, but what is missing in them is compassion. I’ve always said that if we do not have someone with compassion, who is his brother’s keeper, we won’t get governance right.
“My life is not about me; it’s about others. That’s how it has always been and that’s why I’m in this race. I’ve looked in the eyes of ordinary people on the streets of Ekiti, and I feel for them; I know that their lives can be better.
“Our people are suffering and it is written all over their faces. But with me as governor of Ekiti, things will be done differently. You can hardly see any federal presence in Ekiti today because of the attitude of the leadership in the state.
“The truth is that we need to engage the Federal Government, the National Assembly and so on more than we are doing now to bring development into the state.
“The governorship position is not about me, but the people. I can’t forsake the people in Ekiti state. We need to use our initiatives. That is the basic thing Ekiti need, on how to create revenue.
“Ekiti don’t have a master plan, you must first lay all the cards on the table. We can’t just be consuming but produce our way out of poverty. We can become the hub of manufacturing building materials, we have everything there. In Isemure, we have woods, we can license as biggest manufacturing state. So many things that we have in Ekiti state that we can do. In Ekiti today, everyone has seen that PDP came to do 419, those stomach infrastructure are flat. Most people know that,” he said.
Speaking on his chances to win the primary, Ojo said: “I have no godfather in his quest, but I respect all our leaders and I have relationship with them like father to son. But the people of the state are my driving force,” he concluded
