The Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM) has criticised Senator Sharafadeen Alli’s Oyo AHEAD manifesto, accusing the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant of repackaging policies already being implemented by Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration.
The criticism followed a response by the Senator Sharafadeen Alli Campaign Organisation (SSACO) to an earlier critique of Alli’s manifesto, with the APM arguing that the campaign organisation failed to identify any original or transformative policy capable of taking Oyo State beyond its current achievements.
In a statement signed by Co-Director, Media and Publicity, Oyo State APM Campaign Council (OYSACC), Dr. Sulaimon Olanrewaju, the APM said it was difficult for the opposition to portray Oyo State as a failed state when independent assessments had reportedly ranked it Nigeria’s most livable state and best-performing state in democratic governance.
It attributed the rankings to achievements in infrastructure, healthcare, education, security, economic opportunities, institutional effectiveness and citizen participation.
The party questioned how Governor Makinde’s administration could be described as a failure when the state had emerged as a national benchmark in liveability and democratic governance.
It also faulted SSACO for focusing on what it described as a narrative of failure instead of explaining how Alli intended to improve on the state’s existing achievements.
The APM maintained that its criticism of Oyo AHEAD was not based on the manifesto’s emphasis on healthcare, education, agriculture and economic development, but on what it described as the absence of genuinely original ideas.
Citing the proposed establishment of a Primary Healthcare Centre in every ward as one of the manifesto’s major promises, the party said the initiative was already being pursued by the Makinde administration through its one-primary-healthcare-centre-per-ward policy.
It challenged Alli’s campaign organisation to explain why the policy was being presented as a new idea if the current administration’s implementation of similar initiatives amounted to failure.
“If that policy is evidence of failure, why adopt it? If it is evidence of success, why present it as a breakthrough idea?” the statement asked.
The APM argued that the same pattern ran through other aspects of the manifesto, including promises on education, roads, economic growth, agricultural development and workers’ welfare.
According to the party, these were important development priorities but were neither new nor uniquely associated with Alli, adding that they were already receiving attention under the current administration.
It said the APC was entitled to argue that it could implement such policies more effectively but could not credibly market them as original initiatives.
The party further challenged Alli to identify a signature reform or transformative idea that would distinguish his proposed administration from the current government.
“Not once in SSACO’s response did it identify a transformative idea uniquely associated with Senator Alli. Not once did it articulate a signature reform capable of redefining governance in Oyo State,” the statement said.
It maintained that the central question remained what additional value Alli would bring to Oyo State if his manifesto largely reflected policies already being pursued by Makinde.
The APM consequently called on residents to sustain what it described as the gains of the Makinde administration by electing its governorship candidate, Honourable Bimbo Adekanmbi, as the next governor of the state.
It added that any opposition seeking to replace an incumbent government must demonstrate that it had better ideas and a more convincing development agenda.
The party concluded that Oyo AHEAD had yet to meet that standard, accusing Alli’s campaign of struggling to win the confidence of voters.
