A group, the Asiwaju Media Team, has said the Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has changed the narrative of the government being perceived as rigid and inaccessible to ordinary citizens.

According to the group, the Aiyedatiwa-led administration has provided a government that is more open, accessible and inclusive, while also strengthening the security architecture of the state through intelligence and proactive crime-fighting measures.

In a statement signed by its Director-General, Emorioloye Owolemi, the media team emphasised that Aiyedatiwa’s approach was largely preventive, creating a peculiar challenge where citizens rarely celebrate tragedies that never occurred.

The group also argued that the same principle applied to the administration of President Bola Tinubu, noting that many Nigerians do not celebrate a government for preventing a crisis because they never experience the crisis.

Owolemi stressed that governments that successfully prevent crime often receive less recognition than those that respond dramatically after a crime has already occurred. He, however, clarified that this did not mean insecurity had disappeared completely, but that prevention, intelligence gathering, surveillance and proactive security measures could stop incidents from becoming widespread crises.

He said: “Perhaps one of the reasons people find it difficult to applaud this government is because Aiyedatiwa’s approach is largely preventive. He is not waiting for crimes to happen before demonstrating that security is working. He is working to ensure that certain crimes do not happen in the first place.

“Why? Because people can physically see the rescue. They cannot physically see the tragedy that was prevented.

“Today, the security environment is different in many respects. The same level of public disruption and recurring security incidents that previously dominated conversations across communities is not what citizens are experiencing in the same manner today.

“This is not a governor who, for example, should build a road worth N500 million and then spend N1 billion advertising the road. The government speaks through its projects. The government speaks through functioning institutions. The government speaks through safer communities. The government speaks through the accessibility of the administration to ordinary people.

“Not every achievement comes with sirens, cameras, and ceremonies. Some achievements are simply the tragedies that never happened. And perhaps that is exactly why the government of Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa deserves closer and more objective assessment.”

The group also addressed what it described as a pattern of perpetual criticism among certain political actors in the state, stressing that some individuals had criticised every administration that had come into power.

It cited the removal of fuel subsidy as an example, pointing out that for many years, Nigerians endured fuel scarcity, long queues, black-market prices and even deaths associated with desperate attempts to obtain petroleum products.

“When President Tinubu took the politically difficult decision to remove the subsidy, he did not merely make a policy announcement but took responsibility for a decision with enormous economic and political consequences,” the group added.