Expectedly, as constitutionally required, INEC will, in the coming months, announce the dates and timetable for the Ekiti and Osun state governorship off cycle elections. While it is 85% appearing like a football match walkover for Governor Biodun Oyebanji of the APC as even, PDP leaders have endorsed him for a 2nd term in office, it will be a rekindled rivalry contest in Osun state as my party, APC, will orchestrate the defeat and downfall of the dancing and nonperforming governor of Osun state. Ordinarily, like I have postulated elsewhere, juxtaposing the pre-2022 election promises and present (ongoing) realities in the administration of Senator Ademola Adeleke and the unaccountable manner he has governed our state resources in the last twenty-five months, it is apt to conclude that any of the aspirants in APC should defeat him hands down, but this is Nigeria, anything goes and wonders happen every time. The public perception of the overrated entertainer with his off-key and uncoordinated dancing skill is a mockery of intelligence in government business, imagine an 8year old child asking her mum on sighting Adeleke on TV screen, “won`t he dance for us today?” Shiorrr!...Read Full Article >>➤
Candidate Ademola Adeleke in 2018 promised full local government autonomy, and he reneged. Infact, the Osun state Attorney General was part of the legal team who fought the nation`s chief law officer, Lateef Fagbemi at the Supreme Court, all in a bid to maintain status quo, where our LGAs chairmen eat the crumbs of their statutory allocation after heavy deductions by the Emperors at the state level, what we had in Osun under Adeleke before the unceremonial dissolution were better referred to as political/social prefects. This same Ademola Adeleke, boasted that he had connections in all the four corners of the world, that he is in the league of perfume manufacturers, as such Osun industrial cities will be littered with manufacturers, ordinary roll-on, or deodorant shop, whether online or physical, Mr. Adeleke is yet to establish. I have not seen or heard one FDI company, despite the countless foreign trips the governor had made with Osun meagre resources.
Adeleke, before the 2022 election, mouthed the agricultural revolution; nothing is happening in that critical sector. Maybe the state government has, through the backdoor, returned the few tractors commissioned recently as I am yet to see any working on our farmland. Culture and tourism are on ground zero. Health and education are not receiving the needed attention as it is even worse than we left it. The worst of it is that there is nothing significant or tangible in accomplishments or projects to justify that Osun state and her 30 LGAs under Adeleke had received well over N500bn in the last 25months. I also opine too that there is gross concentration and over centralisation of government presence in Edeland than all the remaining 29 LGAs combined – I wholeheartedly align with the recent outburst of Hon. Oluwole Oke. However, in all these, I must commend him for deflating the modulated half salary payment owed civil servants by the Rauf Aregbesola administration, though he hitherto promised to pay all the outstandings, including pensioner`s gratuities within 6 months of assuming office.
Except for the blind or sycophants around him, the governor, Ademola Adeleke, is not in charge of this government. He is on a decorated chair piloted and pushed around by friends and family members. The recent case of relocation of an airport from Ido Osun to Ede speaks negative volume, the myopic thinking and wastefulness of the Adeleke administration. Is it not disgraceful that Osun state is queuing behind Ekiti state in terms of IGR now, despite our huge potentials and resources. The PDP is almost empty as the governor is daily pushing members out of the party, especially those who speak against his Edenization agenda of appointments and projects.
As we earnestly and anxiously wait on our leader, the former Governor of Osun state and the incumbent Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola to answer our clarion call and challenge the present occupier of the Abeere Osogbo – Bola Ige House, as political animals, we must begin to permutate the YES and NO possibilities. When and if he decides not to run in 2026, there is a need to remind political novices shouting around, “if peradventure Oyetola is not running, he should be allowed to nominate a candidate. My argument is that the Oyetola we all know is a true democrat, and not an impostor, and will provide a fair, balanced, unbiased, and level playing ground for all aspirants to spread their wings which is the beauty of democracy. Just like it happened in Edo state where the Leader of the party, Comrade Senator Adams Oshiomhole had a preference in aspirant Dennis Idahosa, it was the consensus of all stakeholders to present Senator Monday Okpebholo as the candidate and like they say in political parlance, party is supreme.
Another half-baked sentiment of political dividers is that the exalted seat of the Osun state governor should be zoned to the Osun West senatorial district. This opinion has never found direction, expression, and fulfilment in the democratic practices and processes of Osun since the advent of this republic in 1999. Even in 2018, when the agitation for zoning was louder than bazooka, it did not fly beyond the boundaries of each town and villages echoing it. It is a defeatist theory to be a crusader of zoning in this age and time, not even in the face of sponsored press conferences we have seen lately. My opinion – let all intending aspirants run and let the preferred emerge. If you ask me, just like we chorused it in 2018: good governance is about merit, zoning is parochial. Zoning will not allow the best of us to lead the rest of us.
Have you heard or seen, names are dropping, posters will start defacing our walls, billboards will litter all our streets, self-serving and personal interests are flying around, slogans are about to be coined, opinions are being generated, Osun politicians in APC are already cashing out, let your voice be heard too, it is your right within our political party, don’t be a bandwagon follower, you do have a say. In the coming days, I will write on my preferential aspirant for Osun APC, Senator Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru PhD and why I am convinced that he has the wherewithal to defeat Ijolabi Arijoyo-bi-okoto ANJA in the 2026 guber election based on his statewide popularity & acceptability, and political sagacity, electoral experience and administrative exposure, federal and national connection, eloquence, brilliance & intelligence, youthfulness and vibrancy, deep understanding of Osun challenges & solutions and least to say, the under-rated Osogbo agenda. It is just my little way of contributing to the political discourse in my party, nothing more. SRJ remains PDP and Adeleke`s nightmare.
Samson Owoyokun writes from Plot 40A, Isokun Layout, Ilesa, and a registered voter at PU 002, Ward 05, Ilesa West LG Area, Osun State. Owoyokun served as Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties to Former Governor, Gboyega Oyetola between July 2020 – November 2022 ...Read Full Article >>➤
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