Pa Reuben Fasoranti of Akure, one of the founding fathers of modern Ondo State and a towering elder of the Yoruba civic‑national movement, is widely remembered in political lore as a man who let the governorship of Ondo pass him by in the early Fourth Republic, choosing instead to hand it over as an act of benevolence and strategic statesmanship.

Public narratives circulating in Ondo political circles and social‑media commentaries recount that towards the end‑of‑1999, when the Alliance for Democracy (AD) was preparing for the first Fourth‑Republic governorship election in Ondo State, Fasoranti was reportedly offered the governorship ticket by the party leadership.

Instead of accepting it for himself, he declined and reportedly supported the emergence of another credible candidate (often referenced in Yoruba‑political circles as “Adediran”‑type symbolic figures—the name used more as a placeholder in the moral parable than as a strict biographical actor), arguing that the interest of the region and the broader project of democratic transition mattered more than his personal ambition.

This is the historical “Akure benevolence” you are invoking: a man who could have been governor in the first democratic cycle, but chose to yield the opportunity so that the political space could open up for a fresher, more regionally acceptable face, thereby strengthening the legitimacy and stability of the new democratic order in Ondo.

It's now the turn of Ondo north to replicate this, goodwill are meant to be rewarded, it's time to either repay kindness in same fold or shatter it