Having fervently followed Punch Newspapers as a neutral observer for the past 10 years, I am amazed by how often they throw professionalism into the dustbin when the state of Osun and Ogbeni becomes the subject.
What axe does the paper have to grind with the government of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola? When and how did he offend its management, and why does it often abandon logic and reason in a bid to rope the governor in scandalous issues? It seems Punch Newspapers go out of its way to drag the name and legacy of Ogbeni in the mud anytime the opportunity exists and sometimes deliberately instigate the reading public against him with its captions and banal headlines.
 

 
I have read with utter dismay, some stories, articles and features in the Punch where screaming, damning and outlandish headlines against the person of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola were used without relevant bylines and contents for the caption. It is as if the Punch relishes sensationalism and personality attacks for pushing its sales, rather than educating the public.
In its latest attempt at ‘investigative journalism’, the paper through a front page article in its edition of 24th September, 2016 with a screaming caption ‘Recession: Governors lavish billions of naira on bulletproof cars for selves, wives’ claimed that “A security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, listed the vehicles [owned by Osun Government] as three Mercedes Benz product, a bus, G-Class, and a 4matic and two Toyota Land cruisers. It was also gathered that the state Deputy Governor , Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori, has one armoured Toyota Land cruiser.” Emphasis is mine.
From the report, there is no coherent link between the banal headline and the content. An anonymous source listed vehicles in the government house pool without providing the source and a supposedly credible national newspaper used it as a scoop to malign and instigate public opinion against Ogbeni!
To be sure, Ogbeni had a couple of used bullet proof vehicles long before assuming office as the Governor of Osun. These vehicles came as contributions from sympathizers and well-wishers during his campaigns for the office between 2004 and 2010. Whereas Ogbeni had two of such vehicles before the unfortunate ferocious attack against his person and aides at the 2007 Oroki Day Festival in which the lives of himself and driver were threatened with high calibre assault rifle shots, but saved by the armoured vehicle conveying them.
On that fateful day, the heart of the driver was targeted and shot at while the head of Ogbeni was equally targeted and shot at. It was the reinforced glasses that prevented direct hits and consequent fatality. The bullets marks are evident on the vehicle till today. His friend and financier Alhaji Hazzan Olajokun was not that lucky, he had earlier been ambushed at Gbongan junction and brutally shot and killed in May 2005. These incidents were well covered and reported by major national newspapers including Punch.
However, in twisting logic on its head, Punch approached a so-called source without adequate information in his/her kitty to form an erroneous conclusion.
Fellow Nigerians, we all should ask Punch newspaper to show evidence of lavish spending on bulletproof vehicles by the Ogbeni. Maybe if the newspaper had stuck to professional ethics, it would have found out that bulletproof jeeps domiciled in the office of the Governor belong to him and were presented to him by his financiers between 2004-2010.
Rather than purchase brand new bulletproof vehicles, the state Governor in his act of prudency, commandeered his own personal vehicles for use in his official capacity upon resumption as Governor .
Despite having access to security vote to purchase a replacement bulletproof vehicle when one of his became faulty, he brought other personal vehicles to use for public work, while diverting his security vote to pay the monthly allowances of the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (O-YES) Corp Members monthly allowance.
What I know of the Ogbeni’s administration is that he has refused to hand journalist posted to Osun brown envelopes at the detriment of workers’ salaries, little wonder they seem to always focus their misguided and misinformed intentions towards him.
Unlike many states in the South West, Osun owes two months’ salary arrears, while Ondo where I am from, disgracefully owes upwards of 8- 10 months’ salary arrears. Without being patronizing, Aregbesola has invested heavily in the people that matter, which is why he can freely work amongst his people even without the use of bulletproof vehicles.
What really matters now is for Punch to clear its name, and indeed proof that it is not being used by interested parties to wreck the reputation of Osun’s Governor. Punch newspaper must let us know the answers to the following questions;
1. Did it double check its source of story and find them to be correct before publishing it as such?
2. Why create the impression that the Governor took out of the limited resources in the state to buy bulletproof vehicles?
3. Why has Punch Newspaper consistently refused to speak to authorised spokesperson of the state government?
4. What was Punch’s motive of featuring Aregbesola boldly on the story’s feature image when evidence suggest the governor hadn’t purchased any bulletproof vehicle during his tenure?
5. Why the desperate attempt to malign and cause disaffection amongst the peace loving people of the state of Osun with such misleading story?
While we wait for the paper to clear its name on why it refuse to objectively report on Osun, let them from now on contact the right source when seeking government’s opinion on whatever propaganda it decides to engineer.
Quoting an unofficial source for views of the Osun State Government is nothing short of a disservice to the people.
Kikiowo Ileowo wrote in via ileowokikiowo@gmail.com. Engage him on twitter via @ileowokikiowo

Gov. Rauf Aregbesola of Osun says his administration will continue to adopt new approaches to meet the yearning and aspirations of the people.
Aregbesola made the commitment in a statement issued by his media aide, Mr Semiu Okanlawon in Osogbo on Tuesday.
 

 
The governor said the administration would continue to pursue policies and programmes that would enhance people’s welfare and good governance in the state.
“I have reasons to tell the people of the state and others who care to listen at the inception of my administration that I will run an unusual government.
“We knew that for us to deliver on governance which we promised our people, we must be ready to break the rules.
“We consciously designed our programmes and policies to be different from the norms.
“We were convinced that many of the existing approaches to governance had left our people in poverty, ignorance, diseases and hopelessness.
“But no one wanted to rock the boat for fear of what the people would say.
“But we were convinced that, though the decisions might be painful to take, we needed to be courageous to take them if they would in turn bring our people out of their predicaments.”
According to the governor, the approach is now paying off, six years after it was adopted.
“We have proved through our strategic approach that though painful, the courage with which we have taken the decisions and driven our development agenda have been embraced by our people.
“Some of our actions have been portrayed in the negatives by a section of the populace that are not yet in tune with the unusual ways.
“But the media have a lot to do to educate and not to be swayed by mere emotions.
“The question should be: Are the people who are at the centre of it all having their hopes restored and having meanings for their lives.
“The answer lies with our people and we know they are with us on this journey to total redemption,” the governor said.

Disturbed by the negative impact of recent flooding in some parts of Osun State, an appeal has gone to the federal government to come to its aid through prompt release of ecological fund approved for the state, to forestall future environmental disaster.
The state consultant on Urban Planning, Environment and Sanitation, Mr. Bola Ilori made the plea recently while inspecting dredging of waterways in some locations in Osogbo, the state capital.
He said the state had not received ecological fund from the federal government since the advent of administration despite government’s pro-active measures embarked upon to free the waterways, which costs the state about N2.8billion.

Ilori, who sympathised with victims of the flood, said the level of the natural disaster was unexpected in view of the enormous fund committed to dredging rivers and water channels in the state in the past five years.
He blamed the flooding, which claimed the life of a person and destroyed property worth millions of naira on uncoordinated release of water from dams in neighbouring Kwara state.
The state was really shocked at the flooding that happened, we did not expect such level of flooding considering the efforts that had been put into dredging in the past five years. A critical study of the situation showed that the main cause of the problem was the uncoordinated release of water from Asa Dam in Kwara State that subsequently forced Owala Dam to open its gates which laid the foundation for the eventual flood that our people witnessed.”
“We have applied for the ecological funds and its on record that Osun state has not earned 10kobo on ecological fund in last five to six years since Governor Rauf Aregbesola came on board, yet we have dredged over 270 kilometres of waterways carting out 4.3 million metric tons of sand and debris in the last six years”, he said.

The State Programme Officer of the Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health Programme (O’MEAL) , Mrs Olubunmi Ayoola has charged food vendors in the State to always provide quality food and fruits for pupils in Public Elementary Schools.
 

 
 
Mrs Ayoola ,who was represented by Operation Officer, Mr Olabode Akinjogbin gave the charge while on inspection tour to Elementary Schools in Egbedore, Ede North and Ede South Local Government Areas of the State.
She said Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola led administration is spending huge resources on school feeding and this has earned the State international recognition and a model for other States.
Mrs Ayoola therefore warned food vendors to always serve fruits as provided in the menu table .
In their separate remarks, the Head Teachers in Community Elementary School Olorunsogo, St George RCM Ofatedo, Agbonran Model Elementary School and YTD Elementary School, Obada, Ede, commended the State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for providing free food for the school pupils. They then said it has greatly increased enrolment in schools.
Part of the inspection team were Mrs Taiwo F. O, Messrs Kunle Alao, Femi Opatayo, and a host of others.

Ministry of Health in the State of Osun has begun the vaccination of nursing mothers in order to prevent tetanus infection.  The vaccination is for nursing mothers ranging from 15 to 49 years of age.
 

 
This was disclosed  in Osogbo by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Akinyinka Oluseyi Esho.
According to him, the vaccination exercise ,which is free of charge,is to be given to nursing mothers in fifteen local government areas.
The Permanent Secretary ,therefore, enjoined women of child bearing age to visit the nearest health facility to obtain the tetanus vaccine.
He then commended the State Governor, OGBENI Rauf AREGBESOLA for providing necessary things and facilities that will ensure healthy living of all and sundry in the state.

As a part of the silver jubilee anniversary of the creation of Osun State  on August 27, 1991, President Muhammadu Buhari on September 1, 2016 commissioned Osogbo Government High School. The school has the capacity to accommodate 3,000 pupils, equipped with  modern academic and sporting facilities is rated as one of the best schools in Nigeria. The status of the school  is just one of Gov. Rauf Aregbesola’s resolve to standardise education in the state.
 

 
With the benefit of hindsight, the governor convoked a summit on education between Feb.7 and Feb.8, 2011, barely three  months into his administration, at the Osun State University, Osogbo, chaired by Prof. Wole Soyinka.
 
The summit’s  communiqué became the fulcrum of the Aregbesola’s education policy direction. Prior to the summit, more than 4,055 school structures were dilapidated. To address this, Aregbesola government set a target to build 170  model schools across the state at elementary, middle and high school levels. It also  set out to refurbish those that could still be salvaged and decentralised the Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM) into three districts.
 
Teachers Establishment and Pension Office (TEPO) was also established for training and retraining, promotion, prompt payment of salaries and allowances and taking care of teacher pension. The government approached the Department of Nutrition Sciences in the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, to formulate a feeding roster that gives the best possible balanced diet. Presently, more than 254,000 elementary school pupils are fed on nutritional meals — chicken, fish, beef, eggs and fruits every school day on the platform of O-Meals programme. The state government says the programme has increased primary school enrolment from 155,318 to 254,793.
 
It insists that the N3.5b spent on the meals annually is an incentive to farmers to produce more as there is a guaranteed ready-made market while the programme empowers 3,007  caterers and food vendors. In addition, more than N354 million is committed to the provision of instructional materials, home economics, science equipment and other teaching kits for the public primary and secondary schools.
 
The scheme has been adopted nationally and is being understudied by Federal Government and state governments.
 
The state government also notes that it has committed N800 million free school uniform programmes at two pairs of uniforms per pupil or student in all schools. Omoluabi Scholar Coaster Buses are provided for transportation of students at N20 per daily trip while primary and secondary schools running grants are increased from N7.4 million to N424 million and N117 million to N427 million per year respectively.
 
Likewise, some categories of students are given computer — Opon Imo —, the e-learning tablet designed to make learning interesting and easy.
 
At the tertiary level, the government has reduced tuition fees for the state polytechnics and colleges of education by 30 per cent. Before Aregbesola’s administration, Osun was in the 34th position on Federal Allocation with virtually nothing to write home about in terms of Internally Generated Revenue.
 
This notwithstanding, Aregbesola has demonstrated that with little resources but targeted intervention, innovation and political will, dramatic and unprecedented progress is achievable. For every project Aregbesola does, he looks at how it is going to benefit the very poor people, seeing governance as a way to develop society via human being.
 
Concerned residents of the state, therefore, observes that the results and impact of Aregbesola’s administration  will surely come in the fullness of time and be harvested by the next generation when they will fully appreciate his efforts.

To promote Osun government’s drive to take youths off vices, the Osun Football Association (FA) and Friends of Gov. Rauf Aregbesola, say they will organise the 3rd Governor’s Golden Cup football competition.
 

 
The Project’s Coordinator, Lawrence Ayeni, told a news conference on Thursday in Osogbo, that the competition would also be used to identify talents at the grassroots.
Ayeni said that arrangements for the competition to mark the second year of Aregbesola’s second term in office had been concluded.
He said that some of the players who participated in the previous two editions of the competition were now playing for major clubs in the country.
“During the previous editions, many talented players were discovered by different professional football clubs from across the country and cash prizes were also given out.
“Kits were equally provided for all the teams that took part in the first two editions and this helped to solve some of the problems of the football clubs.
“The competition has also created a platform that took most of our youths off the street and engaged them in sports as against vices,’’ Ayeni said.
He said that N600,000 would be given to the first four teams as follows; N250,000, N150,000, N100,000 and N50,000 respectively.
He said the remaining N50,000 from the total cash reward would be shared among players who distinguished themselves during the competition.
According to him, the competition is scheduled to start from Oct. 6 to Oct. 26, adding that there will be adequate security.

On Thursday, September 1, 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari chose to visit Osun among eleven states celebrating the silver jubilee of their creation in 1991. He did so for a number of reasons. The public script focused on his visit to some newly built elementary, middle, and high schools, capped by the inauguration of the Osogbo Government High School.
 

 
 
The occasion was my third visit to the same school since the commencement of its construction. Having visited many other secondary schools in the country, I concur with Mohammed Haruna that, in terms of learning space and facilities, Osogbo Government High School “must be one of the largest, most beautiful and most well equipped secondary schools in the country” (“Education: Aregbesola as an exemplar”, The Nation, September 8, 2016). It is a 3000 student capacity school, divided into three wings, each housing 1000 students. In addition to three principals, each manning a wing of the school, there is an overall supervising principal. Overall, the school has 72 classrooms, a 1000 capacity hall, a large ICT room, a spacious library, and various playing grounds.
So far, 13 mega High Schools of the same size have been completed or are almost completed. Adapting a similar template to elementary and middle schools, 28 Elementary Schools have been completed or renovated, each with a capacity of 900 pupils, while 22 Middle Schools have been completed, each with a capacity of 1000 students.
 
 
The underlying script for the President’s visit, however, is the fascination with the progress of Aregbesola’s primary and secondary education project in Osun, especially the state’s Home Grown School Feeding programme, which provides a reference point for a similar programme by other states and even by the Federal Government. Intended to provide a nutritious hot meal for over 24 million primary school children and, in the process, create over one million new jobs and boost the local economies across the country, the Federal Government’s school feeding programme was launched in June, 2016, as one of five projects under the N500b Social Investment Plan.
 
It will be recalled that after flagging off the Federal Government’s HGSF programme, a federal delegation visited Osun State in July to understudy the successful implementation of the state’s school feeding programme, styled O’MEALS. Many other states, including Kaduna, which flagged off its own programme in January, 2016, have equally visited Osun.
 
Osun remains the only one among 13 participating states in the pilot HGSF programme in 2005. Aregbesola resuscitated the programme in 2012, and it has been running uninterrupted ever since. Today, nearly 300,000 pupils are served one hot meal per school day by over 3000 food vendors. In addition to improving the nutritional and health status of the pupils, the programme has contributed directly to increased enrollment, which has nearly doubled since 2012, when 155,318 pupils started with the programme.
 
The multiplier effects of the programme are noteworthy. It has generated employment and created wealth not only for food vendors, but also for farmers, food produce sellers, and transporters. In addition to improving the nutrition of school children, who are its direct beneficiaries, the programme also enhances the nutrition of the immediate community of the food vendors, who are empowered to provide catering services in their respective communities.
 
In the year in which Aregbesola began the school feeding programme, he also initiated a physical education programme, focusing on calisthenics, with the assistance of a Cuban duo, Francis Rodriguez and Raiza Guerra. Calisthenics are physical exercises, using gross motor movements often to attain interesting rhythmic formations with others in a group. In addition to improving psychomotor skills, such as balance, agility, and coordination, calisthenics also helps to achieve group cohesion and discipline.
 
The Cuban duo initially trained a total of 8,000 athletes drawn from 24 schools and 60 coaches from the nine federal constituencies in the state. The group that performed four years ago, during the 21st anniversary of the creation of Osun, was drawn from this pool. The coaches trained by the Cubans were the ones who trained the next generation of pupils, who performed to wild applause during the commencement of the state’s 25th anniversary celebrations on Saturday, August 27, 2016.
 
The Osun calisthenics programme is integral to the reorganisation of the education system in Osun as it helps in the pupils’ physical development. As Aregbesola emphasized in his speech, “the calisthenics programme is not only an out-of-school sports activity but a lifestyle-change project for building a new generation of students who are physically fit, mentally sound and socially well-adjusted”. He added that calisthenics also helps to inculcate “the values of unity, harmony, discipline, teamwork, hard work and creativity into the school children”.
 
It is important to stress that school construction, school feeding, and calisthenics training are ongoing in Osun, despite dwindling resources and unjustified criticism leveled against Aregbesola’s education programme. Today, the worthlessness of the criticisms is brought into sharper focus by the national and international profile of the programme.
 
It is important to recall some of those criticisms, if only to highlight their wrongheadedness. For example, when Aregbesola reclassified schools into Elementary School (primary grades 1-4), Middle School (primary grades 5&6 plus JS 1-3), and High School (SS grades 1-3), he was roundly criticized for violating the 6-3-3-4 education policy. Yet, the Osun education system remains based on the 6-3-3-4 education policy, while the new classification was done mainly to create room for feeding children in elementary grades 1-4, that is, 6-9 year old pupils, who need a healthy head-start in school, and to separate them from other primary pupils, who will not be fed in school.
 
Similarly, the merging of schools, in order to maximise the benefits of infrastructural development and achieve cost effectiveness, was grossly misunderstood, due to false reporting, as mergers of Muslim and Christian Schools. Yet, the schools were never merged across religious boundaries. What was often ignored in the criticisms is the predominance of Muslim students even in many Christian schools in the state. The concocted hijab crisis found a basis in these distortions. In Baptist High School, Iwo, for example, where the hijab crisis was planted and nurtured to death, well over 60 per cent of the student population is Muslim.
 
The school feeding programme was not spared from criticism. Some said it was a fluke, while others ridiculed the government for some items on the menu, such as cocoyam, without caring to find out about its nutritive value.
 
Worse still, when political opponents saw the calisthenics training sessions of the pupils in 2012, they immediately alleged that Aregbesola was training the youths as armed militias, who would be used to assist his state in seceding from Nigeria!
True, the reward for Aregbesola’s educational revival in Osun may take some time to manifest. Nevertheless, a solid foundation has been laid for successive administrations to build on.