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Emotion, a well celebrated Chinese actor, Bruce Lee, warned “could be the enemy” and that “If you give into your emotion, you lose yourself.” This was what quickly crossed my mind when I noticed the latest attempt by elements in the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to sowing a sense of doubt on the performance of the incumbent Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, by attacking his successful billionaire brother, Dr. Deji Adeleke.
This started with Mr. Ismail Omipidan, the Spokesperson to a former Governor in the state, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, and of recent, Misbahudeen Aonullah Ibrahim, which echoed a calculated political blackmail scheme. Well, this is not something new with the APC as anyone conversant with the party’s style can very well understand this as yet a broader pattern to manipulate thoughts for political capital.
As I have been able to point out in the series of my previous articles, the Osun APC is notorious in presenting its perverse views on governance as the reality and strive so hard to force it on the public. This was exactly what Messrs Omipidan and Misbahudeen tried to do with their articles, which revolves around a conclusion Adeleke has done badly as Governor.
But that is not what the reality says especially when indices of government is put into perspective. When Governor Adeleke took over in November 2022, he inherited a struggling state, hurting badly from several years of misgovernance. Over 30–month half salary of active workers and pensioners are unpaid, five months cooperative deductions debt, and the sight of infrastructural decadence was a host of the challenges Governor Adeleke inherited.
Nearly two years in the saddle, Governor Adeleke is fixing many of this challenges. It is interesting to note that while Oyetola who happens to be Mr. Omipidan’s principal, find it impossible to pay just one month out of the 30-month half salary in the 48-month of his administration, Governor has paid six-month for active workers and pensioners who have received pension benefits or bond while pensioners yet to receive bond have gotten 15-month half salary payment. Within the same period, Governor Adeleke has cleared the owed cooperative deductions by his predecessor. Only jokers will dismiss this as nothing.
But that isn’t all Governor Adeleke has done in terms of welfare. Between November 2022 and now, Governor Adeleke led government has released the sum of N12,719,245,528.00 as bonds to pensioners in the state less than two years in office whereas his two predecessor, including Oyetola that Omipidan and Misbahudeen is apparently trying to sell, were only able to release N11,150,871,889.00 within a period of twelve years in office. Yes, you heard me right, Governor Adeleke did better than the combined two administration before him, and this is less than two years in office. To cap it all, Governor Adeleke enrolled the entire retirees in the state on a healthcare coverage plan, shouldering almost the entire cost of keeping them healthy at old age.
Away from this is the laudable infrastructural renewal manifest across the state. The interesting thing is that even those who had before now feign unaware are acknowledging it, although, as Mr. Omipidan tried to do, play it down with wrong assessment. The mistake I think Mr. Omipidan and most of those on his side did was failed to point out the technical flaws in any of the ongoing infrastructural project.
If there is anything, they only echoed what we have all known about them, and that is the fact that they are just bitter. It is not a secret that Oyetola failed grossly in the governance of Osun, and seeing Adeleke, who many of them had predicted was incapable, is achieving many of the things they thought was impossible. The excuse of paucity of fund is too cheap because the financial books of the state clearly indicated that the Oyetola administration had expense in excess of N400bn in the four years that his administration lasted. This was at a time that a dollar averaged N460 and inflation isn’t as bad as it is currently.
In spite of the current economic situation and the challenges posed, Governor Adeleke has been making remarkable impacts for the people of the state. Take, for instance, the effort by the Adeleke administration to reposition health and education in the state. Public schools’ in the were wholly renovated and equipped to enhance qualitative learning while a total of 345 primary healthcare centres across the state is receiving much needed infrastructure upgrade, which included 24-7 power supply and water system, to deliver better healthcare for the people. Yet, the Adeleke administration did not receive a $20.5 World Bank grant like the Oyetola administration did for the rehabilitation of PHCs.
By all indications, Governor Adeleke has done exceedingly well in the administration of Osun state. If people like Messrs Omipidan and Misbahudeen are still living in denial, it will not be out of place to remind them that the promotion benefit that seemed problematic to Oyetola for over three-year was resolved by Governor Adeleke less than six months in office. Not only did Governor Adeleke implemented the payment of the financial consequences of the promotion Oyetola did in 2019, he has granted a fresh fresh promotion and already implementing the financial benefits. More, it is important to stress that Osun is one of the 15 states in Nigeria that implemented wage award payments. One can easily assume that a Oyetola as Governor may find it hard to pay considering how he failed to pay the financial benefits of the promotion he granted to workers.
This now takes me to the unfounded claim by Mr. Misbahudeen on dismissal of health workers by Governor Adeleke. While I understand his desperation to impress his new friends, however, the big mistake was thinking Osun people can be so unreasonable to see through the fallacy of his claim. It is nearly two years that the APC has regurgitated the lies yet, it has not been able to show just one letter of the purportedly sacked. Osun people know well what happened and only those with distorted idea of history will try to paint an entirely different picture. Governor Adeleke cannot sack people who are not already in the public service. It is even sickening to note that Mr. Misbahudeen is trying to draw political capital from the unfortunate passing of Dr. Richard Adeoriokin. Well, he’s in APC now!
It is this same mischievous intent that he showed towards the issue of O’Meal scheme. Had it been Mr. Misbahudeen is given to objectivity, he would by now have realized that O’Meal is a federal government scheme under the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs. It is a public knowledge that the scheme, just as many others under the Ministry, was suspended to give way for an audit following a scandal last year and nothing has been heard about it till this moment. It is interesting to note that only Osun state still maintain the scheme as a result of Governor Adeleke interest. This fact was established a few weeks ago by representatives from Abuja and foreign partners during a seminar held at Aenon Suite in Osogbo.
The most funniest thing about Mr. Misbahudeen was his wrong notion on funding for agriculture under Governor Adeleke. In one of my article, “Osun and the horrible side of a revisionist”, I pointed out the disturbing neglect that the agriculture sector experienced under the previous APC administration, which Governor Adeleke is doing everything to upturn. For instance, the total provision for agricultural sector in the 2022 budget under Oyetola was N6.7bn, however, by the time the budget performance for the second quarter was out, only a meagre N593,296,747.59 had been released, representing a disappointing 8.8% budget performance.
Interestingly, the Governor’s office incurred a total expenditure of N3.01bn out of a budget of of N5.3bn, representing a 56.8% budget performance under the same period in review. It was even worse with the 2020 budget where out of N83,863,650.00 voted for the agricultural sector aside salary payment, only a meagre N6,992,500.00 was released by the end of third quarter. In the 2021 fiscal year, out of N3,313,734,560.00 provision for agriculture and food security, the actual release was N334,699,600.00, representing 13.14% performance by the third quarter.
As outlined before now, Governor Adeleke is taking up series of initiatives, which include tractorization, to boost agriculture activities in the state. If the APC administration had not mismanaged the dozens of tractors inherited from the APC administration nor blew away billions on agriculture without any tangible outcome, Osun will not be faced with the mountain of challenges that Governor Adeleke is navigating in the agriculture sector. Not only is Governor Adeleke working to solve immediate food needs of the people, he is also thinking about the future, hence, the plan to distribute cash crops seedlings, including cocoa to farmers and create the path to endless opportunities for tomorrow.
In all, Governor Adeleke has shown capacity, not excuses as we all witnessed with his predecessor. He is using the collective wealth of the people to build not just infrastructures but also implementing a broader welfare package that address past failings and bolster hopes of the future. By the way, Erin-Osun-Egbedi-Iwo road has been delivered and more other notable infrastructural projects that not only links communities but expand economic opportunities will be delivered in weeks to come. Antagonists can update their dairies or else, they will be lost forever.
▪︎ Sarafa Ibrahim is a Special Assistant to the Osun State Governor on Print Media and writes from Osogbo