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Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has scoffed at his social media critics, reminding them that he has paid his dues as far as Nigerian politics is concerned.
Abiodun said he remains unfazed by the hordes of social media posts and commentaries claiming he has underperformed as a governor.
He stated this when he met with the coalition of youth organisations at the Governor's Office in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta on Wednesday, July 24, 2024.
Abiodun has come under intense scrutiny in recent times over developments in the South-West state. Some Ogun residents and other concerned Nigerians trended photos of bad roads in some parts of the state while calling on the governor to act.
However, he said his administration had done well in sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, and security, which are important blocs required for meaningful socio-economic development to take place.
Abiodun said becoming a national lawmaker at 35 years meant that he was not a novice in the game and didn't need to blow his own trumpet for people to feel his impact.
“I normally don’t get disturbed by such things because one of my mentors in politics told me that in politics, you must make sure that you are mentioned either for the right or wrong reasons, but be continuously mentioned because if you are not mentioned, you are just part of the crowd," he said regarding recent attacks on his administration on social media.
“For me, I am not bothered that I have been under attack by faceless people on social media because I know what I am. I know who I am. I know what I did before I became governor. I know how long I have been on this journey.
“I became a senator before I was 35, the youngest at that time and I have been on this space in the state contesting on different platforms from that time until God decided that He was going to make me a governor and someone would imagine that after all that I had gone through to get to this position, all I will do is to be biting my fingernails. That person must be a joke.
“I became the governor under the most torturous and most difficult circumstances. I can’t go through that baptism of fire to get to the office and become complacent. Our Internally Generated Revenue was around ₦50 billion a year before. But in four years, we have grown it to almost ₦200 billion, and someone says Dapo Abiodun is just sitting in Ogun State and doing nothing. That has to be a joke,” he said.