The Golden Apple's Tree: Why Professor Simidele Odimayo is Ondo South's Best Shot at This Time

The Golden Apple’s Tree: Why Professor Simidele Odimayo is Ondo South’s Best Shot at This Time

Alfred Olatunji, a Citizen of Ondo South by hearth — for the People]

_In a moment that demands courage, competence and compassion, Ondo South needs leadership rooted in scholarship, service and integrity. Professor Simidele Odimayo offers a harvest worth trusting._

*PSO: A tree for a future that has already begun*
There is a story in every village about a tree that bears a single, radiant fruit once in a generation, a golden apple that tastes of possibility. For Ondo South, that golden apple is leadership that delivers measurable progress for ordinary people: quality representation that counts, jobs for the young, healthcare for the vulnerable, roads that connect markets to homes, and schools that do more than exist on paper.

Today, we stand beneath a different canopy, years of unmet promises, projects half-begun, leadership that often substitutes presence for performance. Today, we reminisce about the past that has brought us to this present moment, when we feel like we are an enslaved, conquered people. We have had enough of feeling like Senator Yayi should enslave the whole Ondo State and make us a small district within Ogun State, or Senator Natasha should remain suspended and count us in as a part of her constituents. We know we have not been very lucky. If someone is not watering their Aseyori yard, another is just a useless park of dead bones – they don’t talk, and if they talk, they talk like bad apples – incoherent, barbaric, puerile. The question before voters is simple: do we keep watering the old roots that yield little, or do we plant and nurture a new tree whose shade will be for everyone?

My honest position is that Professor Simidele Odimayo is Ondo South’s best shot — a candidate whose scholarship, civic record and programmatic clarity make him uniquely qualified to turn promise into progress.

*A candid appraisal: Where past and present failed Ondo South*
Criticising leaders is nothing personal; it is a democratic and sacred duty when their stewardship falls short. The recent Senators of Ondo South have, in many respects, followed a familiar pattern that voters must judge soberly:

Visibility without delivery. Frequent photo-ops and celebratory inaugurations have not always translated into sustained, community-transformed projects. Ode Irele is still without electricity in 20 years and counting. The entire district has no industry, yet it’s full of potential. We know the entire district feels forgotten and lost. Constituency projects, where they exist, sometimes lack follow-through, monitoring or the local ownership that makes public works durable.

Policy drift. National debates move fast; great representation requires translating federal policy into local benefit. For a region that has the richest harvest of cocoa, the biggest deposit of bitumen, tar sand and natural gas, and the wealthiest in the nation in terms of oil palm and the longest coastline and best marine life nationwide, Ondo South has too often received the echo of debates rather than targeted interventions for things that work e.g. our fisheries, coastal erosion, smallholder agriculture and vocational education. We have had a history of being hopeless. When we mingle with people from other parts of the State, we look very different – like people whose ingenuity is buried in her hopelessness, drowned in her dark eye like a bush man who comes to town only with a narrow apron on his big body. That era is cursed; must be gone for good!

Weak constituency engagement. Effective senators build institutions, including skills centres, scholarship trusts, local oversight boards that survive election cycles. They don’t focus on self-adulation, or to perpetuate their noise. Where such institutions are weak or patchy, gains are fragile and dependent on individual patronage. This is our true testimony, and we know our sad story must stop. Now is the time; PSO is the game changer!

Opportunities missed for youth and women. With young people leaving for cities and women still underrepresented in formal economic support schemes, the district has lost momentum in human capital development. Or how many people can leave Akure or Akoko to settle in Ondo South? Consider the opposite direction of the traffic. The truth is harsh and brutal: we don’t compete; our space is uninviting, but this is only for lack of attention – a true gold if the correct pair of eyes is worn.

These are not accusations against persons but observations about patterns of governance. The cure is better leadership — not louder promises. The best shot? PSO!

*Why Professor Simidele Odimayo is the better choice*

1. *Scholar-practitioner bridging evidence and action*
Professor Odimayo brings the discipline of scholarship to public problems. Where rhetoric ends, his training in method, evaluation and accountability begins: he understands how to design programs that are measurable, scalable and evaluated for impact.

2. *Integrity and independence*
Voters deserve a representative who answers first to the people of Ondo South. Professor Odimayo’s record of academic independence and community service suggests a candidate less tethered to narrow partisan expedience and more accountable to citizens. I am sure you cannot say the same of so many others!

3. *A track record of community engagement*
Beyond lecture halls, Professor Odimayo has engaged with local communities, listening, designing interventions and partnering with civic groups. This approach signals a capacity to translate national resources into local outcomes.

4. *A vision attuned to Ondo South’s particular needs*
He speaks fluently about coastal resilience, smallholder productivity, coastal and inland transport links, vocational training and youth entrepreneurship — policy areas central to the district’s future. He understands the land and it’s people. He is not a stranger who is ashamed to feel the pulse of his people. The incumbent has not even met his constituents in two years. He never consulted them on important bills. He thinks he is doing his people a huge favor to represent them so poorly. All that is about to change. The change agent? PSO!

5. *A unifying presence*
Ondo South needs a senator who can bring factions together — traditional leaders, market women, fishermen, youth groups and the diaspora. Professor Odimayo’s temperament is conciliatory yet decisive, capable of forging consensus without sacrificing principle.

*The Golden Apple Program: Concrete pillars for Ondo South*
A manifesto without detail is hollow. Below are concrete policy pillars Professor Odimayo will champion in the Senate and deliver locally through partnerships and oversight.

*Pillar 1 — Education & Skills for Work*
Establish a Ondo South Skills & Innovation Fund to co-finance vocational centres in Ikale, Ilaje, Ile Oluji, Odigbo, Ese‑Odo and surrounding areas focused on maritime skills, carpentry, solar installation, aquaculture and digital literacy. He won’t just propose a centre, he will use private finance strategies to make things work for his people.

Create targeted scholarships and apprenticeships for girls and marginalized youth, with transparent selection panels and alumni mentoring. These are real scholarships, not some cocoon noise.

*Pillar 2 — Coastal Resilience & Fisheries*
Lobby for a Coastal Protection and Fisheries Renewal Act with federal and state co‑funding to repair shoreline infrastructure, expand sustainable fishing practices and provide processing and cold‑chain facilities to reduce post‑harvest losses.

Support cooperatives and microfinance tailored to our marine economy so earnings are stabilized and value‑chains are built locally.

*Pillar 3 — Health & Social Safety Nets*
Introduce constituency‑backed mobile health clinics and telemedicine linkages with tertiary hospitals to bring specialized care to remote communities. This is so that people in isolated regions can receive the same high quality care like those in urban areas.

Launch maternal and neonatal health drives with measurable targets and public dashboards reporting results.

*Pillar 4 — Local Economy & Jobs*
Use the Senator’s oversight to attract private investment into agro‑processing hubs, focusing on cocoa, cassava, palm produce and fish products — turning primary goods into marketable commodities within the district.

Provide tax incentives and regulatory support for local entrepreneurs, especially women‑led enterprises.

*Pillar 5 — Transparency, Participation & Local Institutions*
Set up constituency monitoring committees — citizens, civil society and technical experts — to track every constituency project with quarterly public reports and an online dashboard.

Institutionalize a Senatorial interns programme that places talented local graduates into federal offices to build capacity and career pipelines.

*Why these policies will stick where others have not*
Professor Odimayo combines the technical skill to design programs with the grassroots humility to implement them: plans are paired with measurable indicators, local institutions are tasked with stewardship, and periodic audits ensure that projects deliver value.

That is how small projects do not become rusting monuments but durable community assets. That is how scholarship and service graft onto politics to produce real outcomes.

*Addressing the inevitable critiques*
“He’s an academic—can he do politics?” Yes. Modern governance needs technical competence. The ability to read policy, negotiate with ministries and hold the executive to account is an advantage, not a liability.

“Change is risky.” Remaining with tired models has its own risk: stagnation, capital flight, brain drain. Thoughtful change backed by measurable plans is the safer course for long‑term prosperity.

“We need a loud mouth in Abuja.” Loudness is not the same as influence. Real representation is the steady work of shaping policy, securing budgetary allocations and building alliances — all things Professor Odimayo knows how to do.

*A voice for the next generation*
Ondo South’s future will be decided by the choices we make now. Will we elect representatives who treat the Senate as a stage, or those who treat it as a workshop where laws, budgets and oversight are crafted for people’s benefit?

Professor Simidele Odimayo offers the workshop. He offers a map and the tools: a commitment to measurable results, respect for local knowledge and the courage to reform institutions that entrench inequality.

*Fellow sons and daughters of Ondo South,*
We stand at a fork in our history. On one path we keep what we have — small, occasional wins, many unmet promises, and slow erosion of our young people’s hopes. On the other path we plant a different tree: one whose roots are knowledge, whose branches are opportunity, and whose fruit is shared prosperity.

I ask for your vote not for myself, but for our children’s future. Together we will build skills centres, protect our coastline, create jobs and ensure every community has a voice in how public money is spent. PSO will be a senator who checks, who champions, and who delivers.

This is the Golden Apple we can pick together. Let us plant the tree and water it with our wisdom and courage. Vote Professor Simidele Odimayo for Senator — for competence, for compassion and for a future that belongs to us all.

*Call to action*
Share this message in your community and platforms. Be intentional about it. Meet the candidates. Demand a clear workplan from every aspirant. Insist on measurable targets for constituency projects. The day we accept less than what Ondo South deserves is the day we consign our children to borrowed futures.

Plant the tree that bears the golden apple. Choose Professor Simidele Odimayo.

Make up your mind now. For the good of us all, support Professor Simidele Odimayo.

_Share widely. Don’t wait. Be intentional about it. You will be proud you did_.