AN ADDRESS BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF OSUN, OGBENI RAUF AREGBESOLA, TO THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OSUN ON THE TRANSLATION OF HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY, OBA OKUNADE SIJUWADE, OLUBUSE II, OONI OF IFE, ON WEDNESDAY AUGUST 12, 2015.
 
ERIN WO
My good people of Osun,
I have just been formally briefed by the traditional Chiefs of Ile-Ife of the translation of a foremost royal personage in Yorubaland, Arole Oodua, Oonirisa, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II, the Ooni of Ile-Ife. It was the end of a glorious era. The translation of the Ooni is a great loss to the people of Ile-Ife, the State of Osun and the Yoruba race at large.
He was a great king, a monarch’s monarch and a king to whom other kings bow. In his lifetime, he was a man of prodigious means and resources who reigned in majesty and splendour. His influence went beyond his immediate kingdom in Ile-Ufe to the far reaches of Yorubaland, our kith and kin in Niger, Edo and Delta States, the Yoruba Diaspora in Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, United States, Britain, Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, Venezuela, Spain, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, The Caribbean, Australia, Polynesia and indeed, other parts of the world with Yoruba people and those who have had contact with Yoruba civilisation.
Oba Sijuwade succeeded Oba Adesoji Aderemi in 1980 and reigned for 35 momentous years straddling two transitions from civilian to military on December 31, 1983 and back to civilian rule on May 29, 1999, during which he saw the coming and departure of 10 civilian presidents and military heads of state. He also saw the splitting of the old Oyo into two and the creation of the State of Osun in 1991 with the reign of 14 governors and military administrators, including the incumbent (six in Old Oyo and eight in Osun). Indeed, he was one of the movers for the creation of Osun; it was a dream fulfilled for him when the state was created in 1991.
Oba Okunade Sijuwade was an inestimable cultural Icon, a truly regal epigram of Yoruba aristocracy. He brought into the royalty elegance, splendour, colour and panache. Ooni Olubuse used his huge wealth to promote traditional institutions to an all time enviable height. A very successful businessman before ascending to the throne, Oba Okunade devoted his time, energy and resources to raise the status of the monarchy in Yorubaland. A well travelled man, who used his global network to expose the beauty of Yoruba monarchy, culture and people to the world. The value that his tenure added to the institution of obaship in our clime will forever be appreciated and remembered.
During his reign, he was able to bring a lot of development to Ile-Ife in addition to his advocacy for greater Yorubaland in the Nigerian nation.
He was a man of great diplomacy, building bridges across all lands, nations and peoples. He was one of the pioneers of North-South inter-ethnic and inter-faith dialogues for peace building, mutual understanding and mutual respect.
He was of invaluable assistance to our administration, just as he had been to previous administrations, in offering godly counsel, words of wisdom, trouble shooting and conflict resolution. He was a man of peace. He never failed to appear in public to openly identify with our cause, even when he was advanced in age and his health was failing.
The chiefs and priests in Ile-Ife and other traditionalists across Yorubaland have commenced the traditional rites of the celebration of his translation. We ask, in accordance with our tradition, that we all cooperate with them during the brief period this will take. As we join the great people of Ife to celebrate this great life, we enjoin all our people to go about their daily normal activities without fear or doubt about their security and safety. The State of Osun in general and Ile-Ife in particular are safe, as security agencies have been mobilised to reinforce all necessary arrangements to prevent any threat to life and property.
We expect our people as Omoluabi to exhibit the best in our culture and attitude at this moment.
The State Government, the good people of Osun, my wife and I stand with the wives and family of the departed king, the traditional council and the people of Ile-Ife, State of Osun Traditional Council and all Yoruba people at home and in the Diaspora.
Oba Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II lived a very successful life deserving praise and encomia from all and sundry. As it is said in Ife at a moment like this: ‘Eku Ayo, Ooni to f’ese pa. Erin wo, ajanaku sun bi oke!’
 

Osogbo, the Osun State capital, has, since, August 9, been abuzz as its biggest export, the yearly Osun Osogbo festival begun with an ambitious touch.
In the next two weeks, the Osun sacred grove will see a milieu carnival-like activity. Colours, crowd and verve will heighten the enthusiasm of spectators. And the click of camera shots, chants, energising drumbeats of surging crowd, led by the Ataoja and a virgin maiden Arugba from the royal clan trekking through sacred paths that terminated in the Osun Grove, which is now World Heritage Site (WHS) the centre-piece of attraction and celebration, where theAtaoja will sit on a stone stool to perform the animal rituals to appease the ancestors will be recreated. The cultural fiesta is organised by the state government, with the support of National Commission for Museum and Monument (NCMM) and many private sector bodies.
The list of sponsors for this year’s event include: MTN Nigeria, Nigeria Breweries (Goldsberg) Seamans Royal, and Kasepreko (Alomo Bitters).
Participants from eleven countries have already indicated their readiness to be in Osogbo to take part in the two-week long cultural fiesta.
A release from the organisers is to the effect that participants and tourists from Trinidad and Tobago, Austria, the Philippines, Brazil, France, Cuba, and Germany may have arrived Osogbo on Sunday.
South Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda are also among the expected participants at the festival. Already, organisers of the fiesta have released a list of activities. Iwopopo (cleansing of road) holds on August 10. FTAN’s forum is slated for August 11, with Ataoja football tournament final. Festival art exhibition and opening ceremony holds on August 12. Also lined up in the programme are lighting of Oloju-Merindinlogun 642 year’s old lamp at the palace on August 13. Educational quiz competition final comes up on August 14, and Osun festival trade fair holds on August 16.
Other events are Iboriade, Ataoja’s crowns assemblage and FUMAN’s performance day, Arugba’s berth andANTP/TAMPAN’s performance nite for August 18. Sussane Wenger’s sacred colloquium is slated for August 19. Osun children cultural fiesta and Ayo olopon contest (native ayo game contest) holds on August 20, while the grand finale of the festival will come up on August 21 at the Osun Grove, where people offer sacrifices, in form of money, goods, kola nuts and birds, as well as vows to the river goddess by the worshippers at the river bank, while other various traditional groups and professionals like traditional chiefs, royal families, traditional devotees, market women forum, and cultural troupes pay homage to the Atoja of Osogbo, the paramount ruler of the town.
Also, according to the programmes of the event rolled out, recently, in Lagos, by the festival consultant, and the Managing Director of INFOGEM, Mr. Ayo Olumoko, this year’s edition of the 600 years old festival will be celebrated with pomp.
Present at the festival programme unveiling were the representative of His Royal Majesty, Oba Jimoh Oyetunji Ola­nipekun, Larooye 11, the Ataoja of Os­ogbo land, the Otun Eesa of Osogbo land, Chief Moshood Adeyemi Aremu, the Olo­ri and chairperson women development Ataoja Palace, Mrs Jelilat Oyetunji, the President/Chairman of Council Insti­tute of Directors Nigeria (IoD), Mr Yemi Akeju, Senior Brand Manager, Seaman, Mr Olayinka Amuwo and Marketing Manager, KASAPREKO, Mr Peter Ad­ekho and the Corporate Communication Manager, Mr. Patrick Olowokemi.
Last year’s Osun Osogbo festival was tempered by the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) and short of suffering cancelation by the government but the people still rolled out the drums in what was a low key celebration to observe the event. Dating back to 370 AD, the festival is held yearly in honour of the founding fathers of the town and a veneration of the goddess of Osun, the kindred spirit of the town to whom the people own their existence and hold the strong belief that she is the goddess of fertility, as well as the protector of the people.
For this, the sons and daughters of Osogbo both at home and in diaspora come together yearly to re-enact this ancient celebration and pay homage to their forbearer, the goddess of the Osun and the Ataoja amidst celebration and feasting in a swarming procession of indigenes, strangers and tourists, led by the Ataoja and a virgin maiden Arugba. The crowd goes into a frenzy of prayers and supplications with devotees who rush to fetch Osun water into jerry cans, after the Ataoja have completed the ritual feeding of the Osun. The recharged water of Osun is believed to heal diseases, promote fertility in women and virility in men.
Interestingly, the festival has, in the recent times, developed into a socio-cultural event not only celebrated by the people of Osun, but, also, by the people of the entire South West and others event with attendance from across the world. It has also grown to be a big leisure and entertainment event with many entertainment packages and sports built in to attract patronage and followings.
DAILY TIMES
 

It was a gathering of representatives of every spectrum of the society, including traditional rulers, prominent indigenes, present and past government officials, leaders of formal and informal business unions, market women, students union leaders, opinion leaders, religious leaders, artisans, leaders of state civil service, civil society Organisations, Labour Union Leaders and all other relevant stakeholders in the
They all spoke frantically on issues bothering their minds, relating to governance generally in the state.
Chairman of the conference who was the first Secretary to the State Government and Head of Service, Chief Moses Inaolaji Abowaba said participants at the summit came upon their belief in the seriousness and commitment of the Aregbesola government. “For once we see somebody who is passionate about the development of Osun. We are here without any sentiment but because if anybody has done well we should acknowledge it, he said.

Mr Abowaba noted that governor Aregbesola demonstrated foresightedness by his action plans, through which the state reached curent level of development.
Governor Rauf Aregbesola who declared the conference open recalled that former governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola had earlier on broached the idea of a gathering where stakeholders would discuss development in the state. “That is why, when the idea was later suggested by our people from the House of Representatives I advised them to communicate with former governor Oyinlola as an adviser, Governor Aregbesola said.
He urged participants to discuss without any fear of intimidation.
He however cautioned against any fowl discussions. He added that the gathering was “another open forum where everyone should be free to say it as he sees it without any fear of intimidation.”
Summary of the deliberations was captured in a communique which was ratified by the gathering.
– That the infrastructural development of the State of Osun is essential, irrevocable and should go on without compromise within the limit of available funds.

– Government should evolve all possible policies and programmes by which the economy, hence revenue realisable by the State of Osun could grow.
– In the face of dwindling revenue from the federation account, all Osun people must resolve to collectively ensure that there is tremendous improvement in the internally generated revenue.
– All the people and businesses in the State of Osun must patriotically pay their taxes and rates before being compelled to do so.
– Loopholes in the way revenues are collected should be blocked.
– There is an urgent need to review the cost of governance particularly to ascertain accurately the Cost of the various components, salaries, allowances and overheads encompassing recurrent expenditure of the Government of Osun.
– There should be feedback mechanism on government policies and programmes so as to evolve prudence, transparency and accountability in fund management.
– Government should consider diversification of the state economic base. There should be an improvement in the on-going efforts in the area of agriculture, mining and tourism.
– Government should embrace Public Private Partnerships (PPP) where the State has comparative advantage especially in the Areas of Agriculture, Mining and Tourism.
– There should be more efforts at ensuring that government patronises more competent and efficient local contractors so as to create more wealth within the economy of the State of Osun.
– The state Public and civil Servants should cooperate with government with a view to ensuring efficient and effective service delivery.
– In line with the objective to revisit the cost of Governance, Government should follow up with the declared readiness of Labour leaders to allow verification and audit of staff strength in the state with a view to confirm actual number of workers and the salary bill.

– Public servants in the state should be motivated to work efficiently as would be expected of them while reduction in the use of consultants should be exploited.
– Parents through the platform of Parents Teachers Association (PTA) should be made to contribute token to augment the laudable free education policy of the state government.
– Government is commended on its efforts on growing commercial activity within the economy of the state through the micro-financing programme through the provision of soft loans to small and medium enterprises. Government is encouraged to do more in this respect.
– Commended Government for its various youth empowerment programmes.
– The conference commends the Osun Legislators’ Forum for its effort in organising and sponsoring this conference and enjoins them to make it an annual event.

Bashiru Ajibola, a lawyer, is a former Commissioner for Special Duties and Regional Integration in the State of Osun. In this interview with Gbenga Faturoti, he spoke on recent summit conveyed by concerned stakeholders saying economy of Osun is vibrant despite challenges of unpaid salaries to workers in the state. Excerpts:  

A group called Osun Stakeholders recent planned summit as a way of  addressing the current financial crisis in the state of Osun, what is your take on this and what necessitated the convocation of the summit?

In the first instance, I don’t believe that there is any such group as Osun State Stakeholders. What I mean is that a pocket of individual who are working for the defeated governorship candidate of Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Iyiola Omisore thought that they could laugh on the national crisis by trying  to re-organise the opposition in the state of Osun and therefore there is no such thing as Osun State Stakeholders.

The question which you should have asked them is that ‘where were they before June 2015?’ Secondly,  when you look at the three dramatic personalities that said they are the stakeholders; you look at what are their antecedent and what do they represent? One there was one Segun Akinwusi who was our Head of Service and presided over the bastardization of the new pension reform scheme adopted under the old administration; we also saw Akinwusi who contested on the platform of Social Democratic Party (SDP) against Mr. Rauf Aregbesola and got less than 600 votes statewide and he is now coming around to say he represents Osun State Stakeholders. He presided over Osun Civil Service Structure that has a population of between 22,000 and 25,000 and yet in general election in Osun he recorded less than 600votes, this shows the kind of person behind the summit.

What are the kind of persons he has mentored during the time he was in the leadership of civil service for close to decade and cannot even garner 1, 000 votes? . Second is Niyi Owolade who was the Attorney-General in this state that was even slashed out at the Court of Appeal in my presence that he does not know how to cite a case. Also you are talking of somebody like Yinka Odumakin; we know the antecedent of Odumakin, he was one of the people going around praising  Goodluck Jonathan and lying to him and these are people that led the man to become failure. The other person, Dr. Muyiwa Oladimeji, the man saw that the summit is not okay and he withdrew from the scheme. So when you have three people coming around and say they are stakeholders, it speaks of what kind of stake they have.

They were hired by failed politicians in the state. Niyi Owolade also contested the governorship election last year and he did not get up to 300 votes statewide. So the so called Osun State Stakeholders is not a group but a pocket of individual seeking to re-organise the opposition possibly ahead of the next election.

 What impression do you have about the summit?

Now talking about summit, I know that journalists were present at the summit and the number of journalists that attended the so called summit were more than even the partakers at that summit. We saw the pictures of the people who were at the high table; we saw Akinwusi, we saw Yinka Odumakin; we saw Niyi Owolade, he said Chairman is the retired Supreme Court Judge and he was not there. They said they invited former governors and how many former governors were present? How many former Commissioners were there? How many former and current State Assembly members were there? How many top civil servants were there? This is just an amalgamation of disgruntled individual seeking to laugh on the national wage crisis which the present administration both at the state and national level are already addressing. If that is what they called summit I reserve comment for such.

This so-called stakeholder just wanted to laugh off on the plight of the workers to launch themselves politically. They don’t even have the genuine interest of workers at heart. They have not  come up with any possible solution about the issue of workers but only want the state to go down because they want to profit politically from it but as God will have it, the state is striving and it will continue to excel and. As Rauf Aregbesola said on November 27 2010 that our journey to greatness has resumed and we are not going to go backward in that regard.

One of the conveners, Odumakin has denied the claim that the summit was not being sponsored by Omisore, what is your take on that?

What do you expect him to say? I know him very well Odumakin has only been hiring instrument of whoever can pay him and I can defend that. Before he was in Afenifere, later he moved to Afenifere Renewal Group when Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was the leadership at that time. At a point he went to join General Buhari as his spokesperson, he abandoned General Buhari because of the pedigree; integrity and peculiar purpose, he left to join Jonathan Campaign train and now that Jonathan has failed, he has come down to Osun to come and collect the bill from Iyiola Omisore. So he will naturally deny that. The question you should have asked him is that why sudden interest in Osun? He is now claiming to be the son of the soil and in what way has he ever makes any contribution to the politics and development of the state of Osun. So he is a political hiring instrument as far as we are concern.

There is an allegation that Governor Aregbesola sponsored thugs to dislodge the conveners of the summit, what is your stake about that?

I think that is a lie from the pit of hell if these characters can say that. You can go to the hotel where they said they booked. The hotel management has come out that they don’t even tell the hotel management that they wanted to hire the hotel for summit. They lied that that they wanted to do wedding and some sort of other ceremony. Secondly, knowing full well that they don’t even have people to attend because eventually they said they relocated to Ile-Ife, In Ile-Ife, like I said how many governors or former governors attended? Who are the dramatis  personae that have played critical roles? How many traditional rulers were present? How many top civil servants; how many technocrats were present? These are just comedians as far as we are concern to talk about summit. Then they claimed that the police were there? Police did not arrest anybody. I also heard them saying pensioners were attacked, pensioners were killed, let them come with the names of the pensioners that were attacked and that were killed. The reality is that this characters are just liars, had been paid and that is just what they know how to do best.

But the group claim that the idea came up when Governor Aregbesola declared that the situation in Osun is beyond him and his administration and that they wanted to give leeway in terms of suggestions on the way out of the present financial predicament, what is your take on that?

I want to say categorically that there is nowhere Governor Aregbesola said Osun situation is beyond his control. What he said categorically in the media is that the situation is not of his own making. It was because of the dwindling allocation nationally that has affected the payment of wages in Osun and if that is not the truth, the question you need to ask is that why is the federal government through the National Economic Council set up a committee headed by the Vice President to look into the wage crisis in the country?. If one or two people have disease, you can say that it is a peculiar case but when 23 out of 36 states have the same challenge that is an epidemic. That is a national issue. So you cannot now localize national issue within the doorstep of Rauf Aregbesola? I read in the media that the federal government even sends a request by Edo State Government to raise facilities to the National Assembly.

So,  if the challenge that is national and caused by the corrupt and rudderless government of Jonathan’s administration whereby the resources of the states dwindled by almost about 65%. It will interest you that the net allocation of Osun in April 2015 is N256million at the peak of all allocations to the state of Osun. Since 2010 we are having 5.2billion. Let us even assume for the purpose of argument that every month since 2010 we have been having N5.2billion does it amount to N540billion that they claim Osun has received? These are people that just fabricate stories. They came forward to claim that Osun is owing N483bilion, I read it in the media the Vice President that is the Chairman of the bailout committee of the federal government said that the whole 36 states are owing N683billion, so if the whole 36 states is owing N683billion, how can the portion of Osun be N483billion? These are charlatans .

Then on the issue of the stakeholders coming with a way out; ask yourself, since they have come up with the so called summit, what proposal, solutions, what diagnosis have they come forward with it? They are just attacking the personalities and the government of Rauf Aregbesola. So that shows clearly the motive behind the so called summit. I read the interview that Odumakin granted. Did he come up with any solutions proffered according to him? He said he mentioned about gold reserve in Ilesa which is within the exclusive of the federal government; the state of Osun Government had commissioned study on the gold reserve of Osun; we have known the quantity; we have known the locations; the challenge that we have is that the project is capital intensive and it will interest you that Osun Government is one of the few state governments in the federation that have licence to mine deposit in Kogi State through Omoluabi Mining Company.

So we are creative in the way we generate resources. So as far as we are concern, the purpose of the circus called summit is to create a framework to castigate Aregbesola’s administration when Iyiola Omisore lost woefully at the tribunal, at the Court of Appeal and at the Supreme Court and was rejected by Osun people on August 9th 2014.

The group suggested that Aregbesola’s administration should be probed  by EFCC and ICPC going by the communiqué issued by the organisers of the summit, do you support that?

It show clearly the intention of the so called circus called summit. So the only thing they can come up at the summit is that Aregbesola should be probed by EFCC and ICPC, you don’t need to call a summit for a government to be probed. If you know that you have facts and figures, you write petition they can do so and you also know that we know this elements that are trying to re-organize opposition in the state, they are also behind the worthless piece of paper by a serving Judge but unfortunately bringing the legal profession to ridicule to write a baseless petition. When you look at it the allegation they raised, they said there is mismanagement, what are facts and figures? Where is the documentary evidence backing the claims?

Anybody can just wake up and said Osun is owing N483billion, there is no bank that can give that kind of facility to the state because there should be carrying capacity. These are the elementary principles of finance for a state to be able to access facility, you must have carrying capacity, Osun cannot have the carrying capacity when our IGR is N1.6billion. Our allocation that base on salaries is N4billion, so what is the carrying capacity for a loan of N483billion? It doesn’t make sense.

As a stakeholder, is it true that Osun is bankrupt?

I am a legal practitioner by profession. A  state cannot be bankrupt; you can use bankruptcy in the contest of an individual. When you are talking about some of these languages, people don’t know what they are talking about. Yet I will say we have challenges being unable to make our salary obligations,  but it is not peculiar to the state of Osun. It affects as I am talking not less than 23 states in the country. As I am speaking now, we have addressed the challenges. As I am speaking, workers in the local government councils in the state have collected up to May 2015 and for the workers in the state they have been paid for the month of February 2015 and some states are even owing more than us so the challenge is a national thing and if you have issue of financial challenges it does not mean that you are bankrupt. You cannot even use bankruptcy as a technical term for a state.

By your own assessment, what is the state of economy of the state of Osun and is there any hope that it will bounce back?

The state of economy of the state is not just about the payment of salaries, economy encompass so many activities. Are you saying you go to market in Osun and market is not being sold? Are you saying the artisans are not doing their duties to survive? Are you saying transporters are not doing what they supposed to do? When you talk about economy, it encompasses a lot of productive, commercial activities. So economy is vibrant in the state of Osun as far as we are concern. Though we have challenges in the payment of salaries and it is being addressed and workers as I am speaking are being paid.

DAILY INDEPENDENT

Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has expressed sympathy with victims of last Sunday night market inferno which ravaged the Atakumosa Main Market in Ilesa assuring the victims that his government would within the limit of its capacities act to lessen the impact of their losses.

Governor Aregbesola stated this during his  visit to the scene of the incident in Ilesa.

The Governor described the incident as painful, unfortunate, and disastrous, adding that his government would do everything possible to put smiles on the faces of the victims who lost their inestimable valuable properties to the disaster.

He urged the victims to accept the unexpected incident in good faith and see it as the will of God.

Governor Aregbesola said he received the sad news with shock, promising that his government would do whatever it could to avert similar occurrence in the future.

“The State Government would assist those who lost their properties worth of millions to the fire outbreak and as well expedite action to prevent the future occurrence by continuously making necessary provisions for natural disaster as we have been doing before”, he said.

Governor Aregbesola who said his visit to the scene was to sympathize and evaluate the level of destruction caused by the inferno, stressed that it was seriously unfortunate that the fire outbreak caused huge loss to the victims.

Earlier in his speech while addressing pressmen, the Owa Obokun Adimula of Ijesaland, Oba Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran described the incident as worrisome, disastrous and painful.

The traditional ruler assured the victims of prompt assistance from the good people of ijesaland to relief whatever damages and pains that they might have experienced from the incident.

However, the Babaloja of Atakumosa market, Chief Adesiji Ogbara who spoke on behalf of the victims stated that he could not ascertain the exact properties lost to the incident.

“The cause of the inferno was unknown to anyone but it is quit unfortunate that the inferno started sometimes around 6:00pm when market women, men, sellers, buyers and other market users were almost gone to their various homes and lasted till next day”,  he said.

Governor Aregbesola by the monarch, Senator representing Osun East, Senator Babajide Omoworare, Former Commissioner for Home Affairs, Tourism and Culture, Mr. Sikiru Ayedun, Former Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperative, Industry and Empowerment, Mr. Ismail Jayeoba Alagbade, Member representing Obokun State Constituency, Hon. Bosun Oyintiloye, his counterpart from Ilesawest State Constituency, Hon. Timothy Owoeye, Vice Chairman, Osun State All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Azeez Adesiji, some sons and daughters of Ijesaland.

The Bureau of Communication and Strategy in the Office of the Governor of the State of Osun on Tuesday described as another gimmick, the petition allegedly written and submitted to the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by a self-styled activist, Mr. Yinka Odumakin saying it is part of the ploy to continue to get media attention.
The Bureau said all discerning Nigerians need to do is to spot the difference between the supposed petition to the EFCC and the one which was submitted by a judge of High Court in Osun which has ended up discrediting the petitioner.’
This was contained in a statement by the Director of the Bureau, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, who said serious-minded Nigerians no longer take Odumakin’s media hype with any seriousness.
“I dont think serious minded people take Odumakin serious again. After brainwashing a judge to waste her status and privilege of being a judge of a High Court to join the fray against Aregbesola on their dubious agenda, their next strategy is to keep making noise all over the places with hyped visits to EFCC, or ICPC.
“The question discerning Nigerians should ask Odumakin, Niyi Owolade, and other sponsors of this mindless pull-him-down project is: ‘With all the anxieties raised by the frivolous allegations against the Governor by their hired judge, why did the Judge chicken out when called upon by the House of Assembly to which they made her to submit her petition? Why did they also not encourage her to pursue her petition to its logical conclusion by simply availing the EFCC the opportunity to defend and substantiate the allegations when invited?’
” Nigerians are no fools and so, Odumakin’s trip to EFCC today is another in the series of their media hype all aimed at keeping the subject of their destructive mission in the minds of the people. It is a failed project! Was it EFCC they went to submit their petition today? The statement explained
Accusing Odumakin and his sponsors of inconsistency, the statement said the group of traducers have shamelessly embarked on deliberate and persistent falsehood hoping that have the capacity to turn their lies to truth with time.
“They have consistent jumbled figures, trampled on facts and attempted to create a confusing set of statistics in order to get unsuspecting members of the public confused and possibly win underserved sympathy. But lies remain lies! Even if they succeed getting a few minds to follow their lies, the tragedy that awaits such scandalous falsifications are unimaginable.
“If a group consistently accuse a governor of throwing a state into debt of over N400 billion and the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Debt Management Office tell Nigerians that the total debt owed banks by all the 36 states of Nigeria are just a little above N600 billion, such characters seem to be unaware that they have become nothing but laughing stocks in the estimation of right-thinking people without realising the jokes on them,”
The statement noted that Aregbesola has a record that will be hard to beat public finance especially given the magnitude of the works done in relation to the resources that are available to the state.
It added, “Please, let them ask ICPC when they take their petition there next to be given a copy of a letter by the anti-graft body written to Governor Aregbesola last year which formed the basis of the agency’s resolve to have Governor Aregbesola as the lead speaker at its lecture in 2014.
“Perhaps, that will further confirm why their efforts to blackmail this Governor are exercises in futility.
“In the fullness of time, history shall record them for their nefarious, dubious but failed attempts at destroying a selfless, committed leader whose actions show vision and mission and has caused to happen, legacies which generations to come will celebrate.”
 

Pictures of the Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Former Secretary to the Osun State Government, Head of Service Osun, guests and friends and of the governor addressing participants during the Osun Stakeholders Conference at WOCDIF Centre, Osogbo. On Monday 10/08/2015.

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Former Secretary to
the Osun State Government, and Head of Service Osun, Chief Moses
Aboaba, Senator Olusola Adeyeye and Senator Babajide Omoworare during
the Osun Stakeholders Conference at WOCDIF Centre, Osogbo. On Monday
10/08/2015.

From left -Former Governor State of Osun, Prince Olagunsoye
Oyinlola,Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Former
Secretary to the Osun State Government, and Head of Service, Chief
Moses Aboaba and Senator Olusola Adeyeye during the Osun Stakeholders
Conference at WOCDIF Centre, Osogbo. On Monday 10/08/2015.

From right – Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Former
Governor State of Osun, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola Former Deputy
Governor Osun, Sooko Adeleke Adewoyin and State of Osun House of
Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam during the Osun Stakeholders Conference at
WOCDIF Centre, Osogbo. On Monday 10/08/2015.

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun, addressing participants,during the
Osun Stakeholders Conference, held at WOCDIF Center, Osogbo on Monday
10-08-2015

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun, addressing participants,during the
Osun Stakeholders Conference, held at WOCDIF Center, Osogbo on Monday
10-08-2015

….as Oyinlola says Osun’s brand will outlive any government

Former Governor of Osun, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, on Monday disclosed that the state is a brand that will outlast any government whether its performance is good or bad.

Oyinlola stated this at a forum, Osun Stakeholders’ Conference organised by Osun Legislators’ Forum, an umbrella body of House of Representatives and members of Senate representing the state.

Oyinlola said the stakeholders’ conference became necessary in view of the current financial crisis bedeviling the whole of the federation which Osun is part of.

According to him, Osun as a state has a perpetual succession irrespective of the performance of any government in power either before or now.

He stated that the summit is right on target with a view to forging a survival strategies within the context of national economic crisis.

The former governor therefore described the stakeholders’ forum which was the gathering of all indigenes home and abroad, as avenue to fashion ways out of the financial crisis facing some of the states in Nigeria.

He said, “Osun as a state has a perpetual life. It is a constitutional brand that will outlive any government in power.

“It behooves on all of us as indigenes to rally round the state in its present financial crisis. We must not allow the state to die; we must leave a positive legacy for our future generations.

“This is what this stakeholders’ conference is all about, it is a gathering of indigenes and lovers of the state to put heads together and provide a solution to the present impasse.

“Government comes, government goes but state will remain. So, our gathering today is to fashion a way forward that will be acceptable to all and sundry. For us, it is our conviction that Osun must continue to exist”.

Speaking earlier, the Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, said that how the nation got into this financial crisis could not be fathomed.

According to him, the nation was already heading to the precipice but for the change of government that brought the All Progressives Congress to the centre.

He attributed the financial crises across the states of the federation to the bad leadership of the immediate past government.

Aregbesola stressed that the stakeholders’ conference which is the brainchild of the Osun federal legislature demonstrated how serious our representatives take the issue of this state.

In his words, “How we got to this financial crisis is unknown to a lot of people, it is only the wise who may have a flash of understanding of what actually went wrong.

“It is this similar crisis that we are also battling with in this state as other states are also experiencing.

“This forum gives us opportunity to study indepth how this situation came about and for us to find a lasting solution to the crisis so that our state will move forward.

“By organising this conference, our honourable members in the federal House of Representatives and members of the Senate have shown that they are seriously concerned about the destiny of the state and ready to do anything possible to redeem it from crisis that may afflict it”. Aregbesola stated

The Governor also urged the participants who were all drawn from the civil servants, formal and informal sector including artisans, businessmen, socio-cultural groups and others to use the occasion to open up on either their grievances, misconceptions and other opinions about his government.

Aregbesola said the forum was an open one which would allow all stakeholders to freely criticise his government policies, make fresh especially in view of the current national economic challenges facing Nigeria.

Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Osun, Comrade Jacob Adekomi, in his speech at the event, advised the Government to verify the N3.6 billion monthly wage bill of the state properly asserting that government is likely to discover the real wage bill is not up to that.

With a proper screning, the NLC chairman said he was confident the government would find out the difference between what it pays as wage bill monthly and what the actual wage bill should be.

Earlier in his welcome remark, Senator representing Osun Central Senatorial district, Prof Sola Adeyeye, said the forum became necessary in view of the delicate political atmosphere hanging over the country.

Senator Adeyeye said that it was apparent that the country was adrift but for the change at the federal level.

He stated that he and his colleagues organised the forum to call on all lovers of the state to put heads together to proffer solutions to the challenges facing the state as occassioned by the national economic crisis.

“We are representatives of our state at the federal level. We cannot sit back when the state as well as the nation faces difficulty.

“It does not matter again to dwell more on who the architect of our current crisis is. We feel strongly that our people from all walks of life must come together to jointly discuss the way forward,” Senator Adeyeye said.

Among the dignitaries present at the conference included Speaker Osun House of Assembly, Najeem Salam, eminent businessmen Chief Tunde Ponnle (Chairman MicCom Cables); Chief Tunde Badmus, (Chairman, TUNS Farms); Prof. Ademola Odejide (formerly of the Department of Economics, University of Ibadan); Senator Sunday Fajinmi (Governorship candidate of the Alliance for Democracy in the August 9 2014 election and a former senator representing Osun West); former Secretary to the State Government, Chief Moses Aboaba.

Others are Sen. Jide Omoworare, Prof. Mojeed Alabi, Hon. Ayo Omidiran, Hon. Ajibola Famurewa; Hon Ghafar Amere among others.

The event was also witnessed by many traditional rulers in the state.

WHEN I was Acting General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in 2011, we ordered workers’ strikes following disagreements on the implementation of the new Minimum Wage. Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, Executive Governor of the State of Osun asked me for a discussion in Abuja.
The state was on its knees due to the strike and negotiations with the labour leaders had broken down, how can I assist? I advised him to increase the quantum of the funds his government was offering so that the workers can have a better payment table. In return, I offered to ask the state labour leaders to return to the negotiation table. He protested that the wage bill will be too high and that the workers ought to realise that the all-round development schemes he was implementing would reduce their financial burden.
I told him they realise this, but that the workers first priority is their survival and that of their families; that the primary concern of a bird is to eat, before flying to behold the wonders of the world. He looked disappointed, but I told him that unless he takes my advice he would need to break the workers, or they will break him. I told him I had no doubt who will be broken and that he needs to learn from one of his predecessors, the prudent Chief Bisi Akande who could hardly finish his first term as a result of his wars with workers. Aregbesola felt he had the backing of the populace, and I wished him luck. I could see he was genuinely committed to sustainable development in the state. I could also see an idealist as governor.
I can reveal that in the January 2012 General Strike and street protests over fuel price increase, he was one of two governors I know, who stood by the Nigerian people, and even provided us with much needed information. He also stoutly stood against the Jonathan Government declaring a state of emergency in the country to break the strikes. In contrast, almost all other governors including from the opposition parties, queued behind the government of the day.
This year, when the list of twenty three state governments owing workers salary and pension was published, Osun was listed as owing six months. A state like Enugu owed parastatal workers twelve months, and pensioners, five years. Ogun State had not paid pension for fifty two months while Benue State was a basket case. Despite being one of the least debtors in this roll of dishonour, the focus has been on Aregbesola with a serving judge demanding his impeachment. To some, this could be a way of getting back at Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to whom he is closely identified. But I believe it might have to do with his antecedents as an activist, and peoples’ expectations.
This focus, tends to overshadow the social engineering, this mechanical engineer is carrying out. Unlike most governors whose sense of governance is to build some roads or kitchenettes, advertise them and impose huge taxes on the populace, Aregbesola, to use a trite, thinks outside the box. He makes a linkage between policy and the peoples’ interests. He does not just conceive projects, but also possible derivatives from the particular project, and how it is linked with other projects. He is like a town planner who ensures that the various development programmes are well situated for the convenience of the populace, and to enhance further development.
In tackling the mass unemployment monster, he began, in 2013, an ambitious Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (O’YES) under which 20,000 unemployed youths were engaged for two years. Tailored after Kwame Nkrumah’s Young Pioneers, beneficiaries were orientated to have loyalty to the people and serve them. Then they were taken through skill acquisition. This became a pool of educated, conscientized, skilled and empowered youths from which the state drew thousands of new recruits into its public service. The second group of 20,000 youths in the 2013-2015 batch, are rounding up their programme.
In introducing free education, his goal was not just literacy, but complete education which included membership of the Omoluabi (virtuous) Boys and Girls Club with emphasis on citizenship and physical training. One major innovation is the provision of one balanced meal a day for all children in school. This ensures their wellbeing and encourages parents to send their children to school. As part of the linkage, the food as much as possible, is locally produced thereby ensuring a linkage with the wellbeing of farmers in the locality of the schools. Also, the uniformed cooks and their assistants are taken from the schools’ locality thereby establishing a bond between community and school.
In integrating basic education with modern information technology along the lines of India’s Kerala State, the government provided pupils with Tablets (Opon Imo)
Also in providing school uniforms for pupils in public schools, the Aregbesola administration insisted the textile contractor must establish a factory in the state and train locals to sew the uniforms. The Government also introduced a Rural Enterprise and Agriculture Scheme and put in place an emergency system with ambulances. To check insecurity, it bought armoured personnel carriers and a surveillance helicopter.
In his zeal to frog-leap an essentially agrarian society into a 21st Century industrial one, Aregbesola forgot his Achilles heel; that like other states, Osun is dependent on monthly allocation from the federation account; so when the allocation dropped from N5 Billion in February 2013, to N540 Million this April, he was like a pilot who had overshot the runway.
Aregbesola tends to be programmatic like Obafemi Awolowo, a populist similar to ‘Penkelemesi’ Adelabu Adegoke, an orator in the mold of Samuel Ladoke Akintola, with a Talakawa spirit like Aminu Kano. But in a polity controlled by APC and PDP where all birds congregate; it is difficult to differentiate doves and pigeons from hawks and vultures.
In a sense, he is an idealist, and the problem with this tribe of people which I belong, is that we do not fully understand our environment. However, while realists perpetuate the status quo, only idealists change society.
SOURCE: VANGUARD

Governor Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola of Osun State has assured the people of the state that succour would return back to the State within the next one month.
The Governor made this prediction Saturday evening in the lawns in-front of the State House of Assembly Complex in Osogbo during the 50th birthday celebration of the Speaker of the House, Najeem Salaam In what appears to be a reference to the much awaited bail out from the Federal Government, the Governor said that the coming to power of President Muhammadu Buhari is the magic wand that the State needed to turn around its economic misfortunes of the past one year as well as rescue the nation from economic doldrums and comatose.
Making a public response to the alleged mismanagement of the State, financial resources by Justice Oloyede Olamide Folahanmi in her petition to the State House of Assembly asking the House to conduct a thorough investigation into the administration of the Governor and impeach him, Aregbesola who addressed the audience in Yoruba language said that “there is no iota of truth in all her allegations.”
Debunking the allegations, he said, “even, if the allocations coming to the State for a year is N10billion per month, the State cannot get more than N480billion in four years. How come they alleged that I have CCCcollected N538billion from the Federation Account during my first tenure in office? This is an outright falsehood.
The State did not collect up to N5billion per month for a long period of time as we even collected as low as the paltry sum of N466million in a month.” The Governor accused the media for orchestrating negative publicity on his administration by sagging in their responsibility to properly investigate before publishing unfounded allegations about his administration.
This is because according to him, “the media is in possession of all the federal allocations that accrued to each State every month which they usually publish and they still publish figures allegedly dished out by his administration’s detractors which does not tally with the actual allocations in recent times in order to put him into disrepute.”
He also alleged that the present economic crunch in the country is the resultant effect of the plundering and oil theft by the cronies of former President Jonathan’s administration.
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