Governor ’Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, late on Saturday, met with chairmanship and vice chairmanship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming local government election in the state, charging them not to take the electorate for granted.

The governor, who pledged his support for the candidates in the election said that they must work hard for victory.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, quoted the governor as urging the candidates to ensure adequate service delivery when elected.

“As you go into the election, do not take the people for granted. Learn from the mistakes of the past government. Where there are issues, resolve them amicably, so we can all be the winner,” the governor said.

While addressing newsmen after the meeting, a representative of the chairmanship candidates, Pastor Oluwole Alawode, said that the candidates were ready for the polls.

Alawode, who is the chairmanship candidate for Ibadan South-East Local Government, explained that Governor Makinde, at the closed session, enjoined the candidates to work assiduously to secure victory in the coming election.

He said that the candidates have resolved to work very hard the same way the PDP worked to secure victory in the 2019 governorship election in the state.

Alawode said: “Well, we thank God for today. What the governor discussed with us bothered on why we need to put our house in order and work assiduously to deliver our LGs for the party, just the way we did during 2019 election.

“We are promising the people of Oyo State that we will deliver dividends democracy to them. We did not fail them in 2019 as we are keeping our promises, and we won’t fail them this time too.

“So, we promise that if they vote for us and we emerge winners in all the 33 local government areas in the state, by the grace of God, we will do better for the people.

“Frankly speaking, when it comes to an exercise like this, our governor wants you to be hardworking. He does not want any of us (chairmen of LGs) to show laziness towards achieving this goal. So, that was why His Excellency summoned us for this meeting and made us know that the only thing that can guarantee us success is to work very hard.”

He added: “He (the governor) also charged us not to just sit back and think that the election is won because the people love the government of the day. Yes, the people love us. Of a truth, the people of the state love us but we must not just think we will leverage on that. “The governor said that we still need to make sure we do what is needful, campaign hard and when we get elected into office, we deliver dividends of democracy to the people.”

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