KINDLY permit me to air my opinion on the burning issue above-stated in your medium, which we trust and respect so much as ours; and which we pride as the instrument for wresting our society out of the vicious grip of self-seeking, callous self-styled leaders.
I strongly believe that we should also be committed to bringing to the fore, the good qualities of our own leaders and get them well appreciated during their lifetime, rather than celebrating them posthumously.
We have seen governments and administrations in the State of Osun. Lots of them have come and gone within the space of almost twenty-three years that it had been created. We have seen military administrators; governors and helmsmen of sorts – called by whatever names – govern the state one after the other.
We have seen deceivers in their grand designs jostling and gallivanting around for awards and decorations while their uneventful days in office lasted. At the end of it all, the state stood at a level that was below zero as at the Year 2010 – nineteen good years into its creation!
Then, came on board the great emancipator, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola! He would have come without pomp and pageantry usually associated with such emergence in most places, but the long legal tussle, which snowballed into his ascendancy, compelled wild jubilations, that at last, the state had shaken itself out of the grip of its captors, who held her hostage for many years.
Unlike many Nigerians, who had once found themselves in similar situations, Aregbesola was not overtaken with euphoria of victory. He instantly swung into action; rolling out his programmes, policies and projects meticulously one after the other as promised. From the inception of his administration till date, there had not been a dull moment. The governor himself is full of life, action, motion and activity.
At the beginning, he set aside all attempts by groups and corporate organizations to bestow awards on him. His reason was that he had to wait till achievements began to trail his strides. Those achievements were not slow in coming. Barely 100 days into his administration, Aregbesola had succeeded where many in his position had failed woefully in donkey years! He empowered 20,000 unemployed graduate youths as first batch of the State of Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (O’YES).
Today, the second batch of the scheme is almost approaching its mid-term period. Not only this, strings of achievements trailed Aregbesola in all sectors of life; Education, Health, Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, Transport, Human Resource and Infrastructure. Today, the State of Osun has been so radically transformed that someone, who had left its shores since times preceding the governor’s coming on board would now need a guide to tour the state, as virtually everything has changed for better.
There is therefore little or no need to rationalize the recent streams of awards coming to this great achiever. He did not jostle or crave for them; he simply earned them. If a national newspapers in the line of credibility of Daily Independent could confer an award on a governor; if the dreaded Independent Corrupt, Economic Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC) could award a serving governor; if the British House of Lords could be panting after a man’s well of knowledge; if, to cut the long story short, the overwhelming majority of the people who are subjects in a state could be raining prayers on a governor for his quality service to the people; then what explanations do we wait for?
What am I saying? By his strings of achievements, Aregbesola deserves to be awarded and honoured ten thousand times over. I give kudos to this quintessential Man of the People, recently decked with “Man of the Year 2013” Award. I however charge him and pray for him not to relent in his service dispensation to the people. I also advise the people to give him the best of their support and cooperation and translate this into vote, more so that another round of Governorship Elections is approaching in the State of Osun. This is the only way we can keep the good work going.
Osun a dara o.
DEJO DARAMOLA, Tinumola Estate, Osogbo, State of Osun
OSUN DEFENDEER

Osun State House of Assembly Speaker Najeem Salaam has urged the National Assembly to call the Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan, to order.
Salaam alleged that Adesiyan perpetrated illegalities during the voter registration, adding that the minister “was on a mission to destroy the peace in the state”.
In a statement by his media aide, Mr. Goke Butika, Salaam said: “Public office is meant for public service and public good, not brigandage and brutalisation of defenseless citizens. Adesiyan’s misconduct suggests a hidden agenda that cannot be divorced from violence for rigging. It is imperative for the National Assembly to call the power drunk minister to order.”
He condemned the alleged assault on the first democratically elected governor of the state, Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke, by the minister, describing it as “a bad signal for the August 9 governorship poll”.
The Speaker said he got reports of how Adesiyan allegedly moved from one constituency to the other, using policemen and thugs to scare away registered voters from some polling booths in Ila, Ipetu-Ijesa, Ife, Ayedaade and Ifedayo.
THE NATION

I had planned to head straight for Oshogbo the capital of the State of Osun on Monday March 31^st when I arrived Lagos from Houston on United Airline. The mission was to have a heart-to-heart talk with the Governor of the State, who some old students of Imesi-Ile High School, Imesi-Ile still fondly call “Comrade”. That was how the young people in my lone home-town’s High school  referred to the radical and cerebral young man who they said had fireballs in his belly, gusto in his bones, wise and weighty words always from his mouth and speed in his feet as he drove  to want to  “change the whole world”.
But before you change the world, you must change the corner where you are.  He was just straight out of High School in 1975, and it didn’t take him too long to win the hearts of many, and of course incur the wrath of some. Some of the people he swept off their feet with his candor, straight talk, almost restless and restive moving-train approach to work are still with him today dredging holes, building bridges, building roads,  constructing  world-standard schools, feeding the hungry, clothing the elderlies, and touching lives in his administration even after almost 40 years of relationship. When you meet this guy once, you will want to meet him again.
Taking his rightful seat in the expansive government quarters as governor was very rough and arduous for him. The travel lane was brutish, gruesome, eerie, and some of his close aides and friends fell under the hammering effect of sharp-edged axes, cudgels and machetes of known and unknown murderers and miscreants, while some breathed their last when hot bullets from assault rifles were pumped into their bodies during that memorable process of trying to get back a mandate that was in the tenacious grip, clasp and grasp of the opposition party PDP and its leader-governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola. But today he is Governor, Ogbeni, or simply Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola.
My appointment was originally for Tuesday April 1^st  at 8pm, and I was looking forward to taking the governor on regarding a lot of issues especially the whispers and gossips about Hijab and Islamisation policy which his opponents have cunningly architected as an albatross (though now weakened) around the neck of his administration.  8pm came and crawled to 9.., 10…, 11… and close to midnight, my governor was a no-show! Then a phone call came from one of his confidants profusely spewing out apologies that I was already boxed up to accept. I didn’t travel across the Atlantic Ocean to eat Oshogbo bush-meat; there are make-shifts in Milwaukee that will make me equally happy.
The governor, I learnt was on his way from Abuja the nation’s capital around that time of the night and then he would preside over an executive council meeting that would last until the wee hours of Thursday. “That’s how it is every day, except when he travels outside of Nigeria”, someone told me. “When does this guy sleep”, I asked? I secured a rescheduled appointment for 10 a.m. Thursday morning. I got as far as his house, saw him in his black jeep as the convoy sped past me to Ekiti State for a campaign event with Governor John Fayemi. But this man had asked that I should come talk to him!  I was livid, but as a pastor, I didn’t want to show it, but the governor’s confidant who also is a pastor knew I was done. I then took a self-consolation tour of the vast premises of the Governor’s quarters; snapped some pictures, enjoyed the breeze of the beautiful town of Oshogbo, broke my 100-days fast, and decided to call my protocol officer in Madison to put me on the next flight back to Milwaukee en-route Houston. Then a revelation I had before I left the US flashed in a reminder before me. In the revelation, I met the governor and he hugged me and set a dinner-table before every one of us present, and I dined with him. “I will meet this man”; i said to my soul.
But there was no dinner table set before me when I finally met Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on Thursday night. Our discussion was feisty, friendly and generally sweet-tempered while it lasted. He even poked fun at himself when he showed me a caricature in a Nigerian Newspaper depicting him as an Islamic cleric, a “Mullah” who speaks no other language but hard-core Arabic. That was one of the few times he laughed very hard. He loves his faith, he believes what he believes, and he is who he is as we are all who we are. But anyone saying he is an Ayatollah should understand that out of the 38 members executive council of the government (Commissioners and Special Advisers) 24 are CHRISTIANS, four of them are pastors, and he single-handedly appointed them. He didn’t have to.
Out of about the same number of Permanent Secretaries, 30 are CHRISTIANS. Out of the 26 members of the State House of Assembly, 16 are Christians. To call this guy an extremist who wants to condition all of us to worship Allah is far-fetched in my assessment of him as a servant of God and as a behavioral scientist. I guess in politics, everything is fair game. Rauf had a lot to say, and he wanted to continue talking to me, but almost 40 people were in the lobby waiting to talk to this man and shake his hands. And this was already after midnight!
To be continued…

The Nelson Mandela Freedom Park Tuesday went agog as the Osun governor, Rauf Aregbesola appeared in the midst of a huge crowd of tailors under the banner of Nigeria Union of Tailors, State of Osun Chapter. They gathered to express open support for his second term ambition and his investiture as the life Patron of the Nigerian Union Of Tailors, (NUT).
Tailors in the state form a critical section of the informal sector of the state economy that enjoyment massive patronage and empowerment through the various initiatives such as provision of uniforms for members of the Osun Youths Empowerment Scheme (OYES).
The provision of school uniforms for about 750,000 pupils of public schools in Osun has also culminated in the birth of a modern garment factor, the Omoluabi Garment Factor, Osogbo which has employed about 3,000 tailors in the state.
According to him, ” I thank God that our people recognised the bold steps we are taking as a government, it is beyond human wisdom, I always laugh at them, whenever they say their seven and a half years in office was a mistake, and that they want to correct it now, it is not by mistake, it is in their character.
“Should they be in power even for just 5 months, there will be crises, corruption and insecurity. That was our experience during their seven and half years in the State of Osun.
“In our three and a half years, there is no community or family that has not benefited from our programmes, that is the difference. Our government is the government of the people. Our priority is to make life more abundant for the people with God on our side,” The governor stressed.
He urged the union not to stop at the endorsement but continue to sensitize people and protect their voters cards so as to be able to vote in the August 9 governorship election.
Earlier in his address, the State Secretary of NUT, Alhaji Adejumo Olaiya said Governor Aregbesola has created wealth for the professional tailors through OYES uniform in less than 100 days office.
He said apart from endorsing the governor for the second term, the union will also volunteer to be part of the campaign team to work for the electoral victory of the governor.
The NUT boss added that members of the union converged on Freedom Park to appreciate the excellent performance of the governor most especially his gesture towards the artisans in the state.
In his words, “When the governor reclaimed his mandate, he called on us and promised to give us the uniform contract, only 12 local government were participating in NUT then, but when the promise of the sewing of the OYES uniform was coming to reality, all the local government of the state had to join the NUT so that they can benefit.
“The opportunity given the union has assisted the union to have a permanent Tailors Hall named Ola Aregbesola Tailor’s hall, it has also affected the lives of our members positively, those whose workshop had folded up, came back to life through the uniform contract”. Alhaji Olaiya told the gathering.
In what was applauded by the tailors’ groups as a demonstration of humility by the Governor, Aregbesola advised them to possibly change the name of the Hall to Ola Olohun Tailors’ Hall.
In asking them to change the name to reflect that all favours emanate from God, Aregbesola reminded them that he does not indulge in self-glorification saying such self-aggrandizements make monsters of people in high places and prevent them from their obligations to the people.

The Chairman, Osun State Agricultural Development Corporation (OSSADEC), Engr. Solagbade Atanda Oladepo, has commended the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola over his continuous support to farmers in the state especially for granting Agricultural loan to them.
He disclosed this at the first meeting of the Board members for the year 2014 which held at the conference room of the corporation
He used the occasion to implore members of the Board and the Management staff of the corporation to work together for the overall success of the agency, adding that, members have to submit their completed Code of Conduct Bureau forms not later than next week Friday, April 11, 2014.
Eng Oladepo assured farmers that, they will benefit from the Agric loan and asked for their support and cooperation with the present administration.
Speaking at the occasion, the Acting General Manager, Mr. Kayode Olanipekun stated that, banishing hunger and poverty, creating wealth and employment are part of the Six Integral Action Plan of the present administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and assured them that disbursement of loan will commence by May 2014
Mr. Olanipekun stated further that, the State Government of Osun under Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola had procured agro-processing equipment such as cassava chipping machine, grain processing machine, multi-grain thresher, rice reaper and yam flour processing machine for sale to women and youths at 40% subsidy
He also informed the meeting that, the State Government has further approved a 15% subsidy on Agricultural implements such as harrow, plough, rigger and tipping trailer which are available for sale at the cooperation headquarters, Ilobu road, Osogbo.
OSUN NEWS

With the unrelenting efforts of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola towards leading the State of Osun to self sustaining stage in revenue generation, all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies in the State have been urged to double their efforts with a view to meeting up with their various revenue estimate target for this year.
This was what transpired during the just concluded two- week bilateral discussion that involved MDAs in the State on the automation of revenue collection.
It was organized by Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in collaboration with the Budget and Economic Planning Commission, Government Parastatals, Monitoring Team, Office of the Accountant General as well as IRS Tax Consultancy firm on revenue automation.
The theme of the discussion according to IRS acting Chairman, Mr Dayo Oyebanji, is to make sure that MDAs in the State comply with the directive of Mr. Governor on automating all their payment transactions and in addition to this, cross-fertilization of ideas on how to make MDA more viable and cynosure of all eyes in revenue generation was also among the germane issues given preferential attention to.
While making reference to what was obtainable in the Old Western region era, where MDAs played a major factor in boosting IGR for the region that culminated into building the proud of Africa, multi million naira valued Cocoa House, Mr. Dayo Oyebanji gave the assurance that, with the influx and viable economic activities in the State, if judiciously managed with absolute dedication to duty coupled with having goal focused minded orientation, the revival of the lost past glory of MDA playing its leading position in the aspect of revenue generation is certain.
OSUN NEWS

Photos from the conferment of life Patron on the  Governor/Endorsement of his 2nd term in office by the Nigerian Union of Tailors in Osogbo on Tuesday 08-04-2014

From left, Deputy Governor, State of Osun, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori;
Governor Rauf Aregbesola; President, Nigeria Union of Tailor, Osun
State Chapter, Alhaji Kasali Akinloye and Vice Lady President, Mrs
Oluwatoyin Abiola Alabi, during the conferment of life Patron on the
governor/endorsement of his 2nd term in office by Nigeria Union of
Tailor in Osogbo on Tuesday 08-04-2014

From left, Deputy Governor, State of Osun, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori;
Governor Rauf Aregbesola; President, Nigeria Union of Tailor, Osun
State Chapter, Alhaji Kasali Akinloye and Vice Lady President, Mrs
Oluwatoyin Abiola Alabi, during the conferment of life Patron on the
governor/endorsement of his 2nd term in office by Nigeria Union of
Tailor in Osogbo on Tuesday 08-04-2014

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of the State of Osun addressing Nigeria Union
of Tailor, during the conferment of Life Patron pf the union on him
and endorsement of his 2nd term in office in Osogbo on Tuesday 08 –
04-2014

Cross section of Nigeria Union of Tailor guard of honour for Governor
State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, during the conferment of Life
Patron on him and endorsement of his 2nd term in office by Nigeria
Union of Tailor in Osogbo on Tuesday 08 – 04-2014