Pictures of the Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola laying the wreath, during 2015 Armed forces Remembrance Day Celebration at the Military Cenotaph, Osogbo, State of Osun on Thursday 15-01-2015

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola laying the wreath,
during 2015 Armed forces Remembrance Day Celebration at the Military
Cenotaph, Osogbo, State of Osun on Thursday 15-01-2015

From right, Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola;
Commandant, Nigerian Air Force Institute of Safety, Ipetu-Ijesa, Air
Commodore Oyewole Jackson; Commander, Engineer Construction Company,
(ECC) Ede, Brigadier General Gbenga Adeyemi and Chairman Nigerian
Legion, State of Osun, Colonel Alimi Samotu, during 2015 Armed forces
Remembrance Day Celebration in Osogbo, State of Osun on Thursday
15-01-2015

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (2nd left); Commandant,
Nigerian Air Force Institute of Safety, Ipetu-Ijesa, Air Commodore
Oyewole Jackson (2nd right); Commander, Engineer Construction Company,
(ECC) Ede, Brigadier General Gbenga Adeyemi (3rd right); Chairman
Nigerian Legion, State of Osun, Colonel Alimi Samotu (left);
Commissioner of Police, Osun Command, Abubakar Marafa (right) and
others, inspecting the Fallen Heroes Military Tomb, during 2015 Armed
forces Remembrance Day Celebration in Osogbo, State of Osun on
Thursday 15-01-2015

From Left, Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Commandant,
Nigerian Air Force Institute of Safety, Ipetu-Ijesa, Air Commodore
Oyewole Jackson and Commander, Engineer Construction Company, (ECC)
Ede, Brigadier General Gbenga Adeyemi inspecting the Fallen Heroes
Military Tomb, during 2015 Armed forces Remembrance Day Celebration in
Osogbo, State of Osun on Thursday 15-01-2015

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All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari took his campaign to Osun State yesterday.
Buhari arrived the campaign rally held at the Osogbo Stadium around 5:30pm and thanked the crowd who have been waiting for his arrival since 10am.
A statement by his campaign office Tuesday also challenged President Jonathan to explain why over N5 trillion in oil and gas revenue vanished under his supervision, through fraud and embezzlement.
This challenge is coming some hours after Buhari and Jonathan, and other presidential candidates signed an accord in Abuja to avoid violence during and after elections.
“This government must answer the questions posed by the different Committees and Task Forces that probed the Oil and Gas Sector between 2011 and 2012. By this, we mean the Nuhu Ribadu-led Petroleum Task Force Report, the Minister of Trade and Investment’s report on stolen crude; the House of Representatives fuel subsidy report coupled with the investigations into the ecological fund, SIM card registration and frequency band spectrum sale,” the Buhari campaign said.
The campaign recalled that a prominent newspaper, had in the 25th of November, 2012 edition alerted Nigerians on how over N5trillion oil money had been stolen under Jonathan’s tenure.
The statement signed by the campaign’s media and publicity director Malam Garba Shehu said “industrial theft of oil surged from 250,000 to 400,000 barrels per day and remains unabated. The issue of corruption was also repackaged and lowered to the status of petty stealing. Worse still innocent whistle-blowers were hounded out of office.”
In his brief speech, Buhari urged the Osun supporters to obtain their permanent voter cards, promising to provide employment by breaking the vicious circle of corruption, unemployment and insecurity.
Osun State Governor Rauf Oregbesola, said “this election is not just an election. It is an election of independence.”
The governor said “Nigeria doesn’t want just any kind of luck. Nigeria deserves the best luck. Buhari is the best luck for Nigeria.”

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Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, yesterday described the Boko Haram insurgents as the common enemy of Nigerians irrespective of ethnicity, religion or race.
Aregbesola stated this at the Armed Forces Remembrance Day ceremony and laying of wreath in honour of fallen soldiers held at the cenotaph site in Osogbo.
This was even as the governor demanded an unreserved apology from those casting aspersions on the academic qualification of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, saying that for Buhari to have risen to the level of a general in the army, he deserves the respect of all.
The governor stated that all hands must be on deck to ensure that the menace of insurgents in certain parts of Nigeria was brought to a permanent halt by every Nigerian without any consideration of tribe.
The governor called on all religious and traditional worshippers to use every power in their custody to fight terrorism to a standstill, saying they have all the spiritual powers to fight Boko Haram.
He held that the Armed Forces Remembrance ceremony should serve to inspire the hearts of Nigerians to be more committed to the progress and peace of Nigeria.
The governor reminded the gathering that as the remembrance ceremony was going on around the country, many of the uniformed men and women are engaged in deadly battles against a brand in the global network of terrorism of Boko Haram.
According to him, “I refer us to these ongoing battles in order to make the point that the government and the people of this country must in their various ways play the role becoming of them in support of those brave combatants.
“These are trying times. Yet, we must not shrink from our service to this country, whether as soldiers, public or private citizens.
“That enemy, popularly known as Boko Haram, is our common enemy. Consequently, we must be formidably united in confronting it.
It is by standing together in support of our men and women in the fight against terrorism that we can be sure of victory‎,” the governor emphasised.
Aregbesola charged that all must stand together in support of these men and women in the fight against terrorism for the country to be sure of victory.
He added that this was not the time to give up on those who for the country’s collective security are engaged in deadly warfare against terrorism.
The governor said: “Yes we have seen some lapses in the war against terror. Still we cannot run down our fighters. We must give encouragement and support, both in prayers and confidence, to the fighting spirit of our armed forces.
“We must note that those who rise in arms against our compatriots in the North-East are less in number than the rest of us. That misguided and malevolent minority must not triumph over us, the majority.”
Aregbesola urged the Federal Government of Nigeria to sufficiently arm the military for it to effectively rout the Boko Haram terrorists and regain the areas under their control.
The governor therefore called on military authorities to ensure that the welfare of those fighting men and women is well attended to and motivated to win.
The highlights of the remembrance day ceremony included the laying of wreaths by Aregbesola, the Commandant, Nigeria Institute of Safety, Ipetu-Ijesa, Air Commodore. Oyewole Jackson.
Others were Chairman Nigeria Legion, Osun, Col. Alimi Samotu, the state Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Marafa, the Commander, Engineering Construction Command, Ede, Brig. Gen. Gbenga Adeyemi and the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun.
 

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The State of Osun House of Assembly has said that the state parliament would be critical in giving approval to the 2015 budget estimates proposal of different ministries and agencies of government.
Speaker of the Assembly, Honourable Najeem Salaam, stated this while declaring open the 2015 budget defence exercise ‎of the state ministries and agencies before the House.
The Speaker said the parliament would take critical look into details of budget estimates brought before it, with a view to ensuring that only the estimates that are realistic would be approved.
According to him, the Assembly would prioritise only budgets that are implementable, saying, upward or downward adjustments would be made in the budget estimates where necessary.
The Speaker further stressed that considering the dwindling resources of the state, the Assembly would give approval to only the estimates that have direct impact on the people of the state.
In his remarks, Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Honourable Kamil Oyedele, charged the various ministries to ensure direct implementation of the allocated funds for projects meant for the development of the state.
Oyedele, who chaired the exercise, however, implored them to continue to support the government of Governor Rauf Aregbesola in his bid to further bring unprecedented development to the state, as they are partners in progress.
While presenting its budget estimate for 2015 for defence before the state legislature, the state Ministry of Education‎, led by the Permanent Secretary, Lawrence Oyeniran, presented budget estimate of N451.7 million as revenue and N4.6 billion as expenditure.
Also, Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital (LAUTECH‎), led by its Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adeniyi Gbadegesin, presented N10.4 billion as total revenue and N10.4 billion as expenditure.
Also, the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), led by its Chairman, Prince Felix Awofisayo, presented N8.2 billion as revenue and N8.02 billion as expenditure for the year, of which the construction of new model schools take N4 billion.
Other agencies and parastatals that presented their 2015 budget estimates during the exercise included Osun State Mass Education Agency‎; Teachers’ Establishment and Pension Office; Osun State College of Technology, Esa-Oke; Osun State Polytechnic, Iree; Osun West Education District, Osun East Education District and Osun Central Education District.
Meanwhile, the assembly deferred the appearance of the Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun and Osun State College of Education, Ilesa for the budget defence exercise due to some pending unresolved
issues.
OSUN DEFENDER

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Pictures showing mammoth crowd at the presidential campaign rally of the All Progressive Congress (APC), at the Osogbo City Stadium.

In attendance, Former Governor State of Osun, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; Governor Rauf Aregbesola; Deputy Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC) South, Engineer Segun Oni; Former APC Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande; APC Presidential Candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari; APC National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun and others.

Mammoth crowd at the presidential campaign rally of the All
Progressive Congress (APC), at the Osogbo City Stadium on Wednesday
15-01-2015

Mammoth crowd at the presidential campaign rally of the All
Progressive Congress (APC), at the Osogbo City Stadium on Wednesday
15-01-2015

Mammoth crowd at the presidential campaign rally of the All
Progressive Congress (APC), at the Osogbo City Stadium. Insert, From
left, Former Governor State of Osun, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola;
Governor Rauf Aregbesola; Deputy Chairman, All Progressives Congress
(APC) South, Engineer Segun Oni; Former APC Chairman, Chief Bisi
Akande; APC Presidential Candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari; APC
National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun and others.

Mammoth crowd at the presidential campaign rally of the All
Progressive Congress (APC), at the Osogbo City Stadium. Insert, From
left, Former Governor State of Osun, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola;
Governor Rauf Aregbesola; Deputy Chairman, All Progressives Congress
(APC) South, Engineer Segun Oni; Former APC Chairman, Chief Bisi
Akande; APC Presidential Candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari; APC
National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun and others.

Mammoth crowd at the presidential campaign rally of the All
Progressive Congress (APC), at the Osogbo City Stadium on Wednesday
15-01-2015

Mammoth crowd at the presidential campaign rally of the All
Progressive Congress (APC), at the Osogbo City Stadium on Wednesday
15-01-2015

Mammoth crowd at the presidential campaign rally of the All
Progressive Congress (APC), at the Osogbo City Stadium on Wednesday
15-01-2015

From left, Former Governor State of Osun, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola;
Governor Rauf Aregbesola; Deputy Chairman, All Progressives Congress
(APC) South, Engineer Segun Oni; Former APC Chairman, Chief Bisi
Akande; APC Presidential Candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari; APC
National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun and others, at the presidential
campaign rally of the All Progressive Congress (APC), at the Osogbo
City Stadium on Wednesday 15-01-2015

From left, Former Governor State of Osun, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola;
Governor Rauf Aregbesola; Deputy Chairman, All Progressives Congress
(APC) South, Engineer Segun Oni; Former APC Chairman, Chief Bisi
Akande; APC Presidential Candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari; APC
National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun and others, at the presidential
campaign rally of the All Progressive Congress (APC), at the Osogbo
City Stadium on Wednesday 15-01-2015

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The ancient city of Osogbo was agog on Wednesday when the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari stormed the South-west state of Osun in continuation of his campaigns for the 2015 general elections.

The Osogbo township stadium was filled to the brim as party members and supporters thronged the capital from across the state of Osun in their thousands.

They had insisted on waiting for Gen. Buhari since 10 AM as the candidate was attending a stakeholders workshop on non-violent elections in Abuja.

The APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in his speech lamented that the country in last one and a half decades has found itself in vicious circle of bad governance, insecurity and breakdown of law and order.

He said unless something is done urgently, the nation will continue to wallow in political stagnation, economic depression and social insecurity.

According to the presidential candidate, APC is willing and ready to break this endless circle of socio-political misfortune.

He disclosed that through Agriculture and mining, APC will create jobs for millions of unemployed youths roaming the streets of the nation.

Buhari, amidst dancing and singing by the huge crowd of supporters, said “for upward of 16 years now, this country has found itself in a vicious circle of incompetence, unemployment, insecurity and Web of corruption.

“This circle will continue unbroken unless drastic efforts are made to arrest this downward socio-political trend. My party, APC has the blueprint to break this circle, halt the trend of misfortune and change it to fortune for the country.

“We are going to redouble our efforts in the Agriculture and mining sector to provide jobs for millions of unemployed youths. I urge you my people of Osun to collect your permanent voters cards so that you can vote en-masse for‎ APC come February 14.”.

‎Speaking earlier, the governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who laced his speech with various songs to which the crowd responded, noted that the upcoming election is going to be that of independence from poverty and under-development.

He held that 16 years of PDP has brought untold hardship and bad luck to virtually every facet of the Nigerian life.

‎Aregbesola stressed that every Nigerian who has the love of this country at heart will certainly know that this is the time for the change to rescue the fortune of Nigeria from the political buccaneers call PDP.

The governor pointed that the political configuration has changed as all the 6 geo-political zones have come together to speak with one voice, saying APC is the only good thing that can happen to the country.

‎According to him, “The vote of February 14 is significant as it is symbolic. It is a vote of liberation from poverty, bad governance, insecurity and total collapse of infrastructure.

“For 16 years, PDP has ruled this country and the country has got nothing to show for it, it is all 16 years of waste, misrule and backwardness.

“Therefore, anyone who has the love of the country at heart will definitely stand for change, which wind is blowing across the country. And Osun in its character is totally for APC and Buhari”.

Also, the National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun described the presidential candidate of the party as a man of courage, principle and honesty.

He noted that Buhari is a personality whose astuteness imbued him with the talent to see far ahead of others.

He held that a vote for Buhari is a vote to cancel insecurity, corruption and clueless administration.

“Today, across the country it is one singsong‎ ‘SaiBuhari.’ even our friends in PDP are also singing the same song. Everybody wants Buhari to bring change that the nation needs at this critical moment.” He emphasised.

A highpoint of the visit by Buhari to Osogbo was after the rally at the stadium and the candidate, in a long convoy drove through the major streets of the state capital.

As the convoy drove from the stadium through Aiyetoro, Onisekere, Sabo Junction, Igbona, Old Garrage, Okefia up to the Government House, it was a deafening shout of Sai Buhari from the excited crowd of residents who expressed support for the APC presidential candidate.

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The election petition tribunal sitting in Osogbo has dismissed the petition of the candidate of the Accord Party, Barrister Niyi Owolade. This has actually revealed the farce that passed as petitions at the tribunal.
Owolade had asked for the withdrawal of the petition on the ground of insufficient time. This drew sharp rebuke from the tribunal which charged Owolade of asking for incessant adjournments only to turn round and ask for withdrawal. The petition was then dismissed and N50,000 cost awarded to Aregbesola.
It is a mark of civility to seek legal redress for any perceived injustice and especially on an election, which borders on the sacred mandate of the people. However, this petition was baseless and frivolous ab initio. It was meant to give the wrong impression and cast doubt on an election that was won by Governor Rauf Aregbesola, in spite of all the obstacles put in his way by the PDP Federal Government.
The interesting thing about this case is that both Owolade and Senator Iyiola Omisore, the other petitioner at the tribunal, relied on and put forward basically the same evidence and argued in the same way. Nevertheless, they relied more on deception, lies and misinformation rather than on truth and pursuit of justice.
While the examination of ballot papers was going on, PDP spin a lie that 100,000 ballot papers which belonged to Omisore and wrongly credited to Aregbesola had been discovered and returned to its rightful owner. They now concluded that the discovery had tilted the result in favour of Omisore who would be sworn in on November 27 last year, instead Aregbesola. But as truth would have it, it was Aregbesola that was sworn in. The lie was knocked from its bottom. A television station, AIT, which published the story on its website retracted it with an apology.
The truth eventually came out in the course of the inspection, that not only was a single case of irregularity like invalid ballot paper, unsigned result sheet or unstamped result not found, a recount of the ballot papers was not even in the prayers of Omisore before the tribunal. So a transfer of even a single ballot from Aregbesola to Omisore is not going to happen. The tribunal cannot give to you what you never asked for.
Then again, the PDP caused to be published in some dailies the falsehood that there was over-voting in Oriade Local Government. If this were to be true, it would have established one of the claims of Omisore but the tribunal strongly disavowed this reporting and had to summon the correspondent of punch newspaper who syndicated the story. The tribunal averred that the report was false. The correspondent ran away and never showed up at the tribunal.
Indeed, in the course of inspection, tendering evidence or calling witnesses, it was never established that there was irregularities anywhere. Rather, what was established, even by Omisore’s witnesses, including PDP state secretary, was that the election was peaceful, free and fair.
It is not for me to preempt the tribunal’s judgement, but what is clear now is that PDP went to the tribunal as a face saving measure in order to rally its members in the vain hope of mitigating a catastrophic outing in February general election.

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The Osun House of Assembly on Monday said it would give the state government’s 2015 budget a speedy consideration and passage.
Mr Najeem Salaam, Speaker of the house, said this in Osogbo while declaring open the 2015 budget defence by government Ministries, Agencies and Parastatals (MDAs). Salaam said the house would take a critical look at details of the budget estimates before giving its approval.
NAN reports that Gov. Rauf Aregbesola had in December 2014 presented a budget of N197 billion to the assembly. The speaker, who noted that the house would give priority to projects that were implementable, stressed that adjustments would be made where necessary in the proposed budget.
In his remarks, Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Mr Kamil Oyedele, urged various MDAs to ensure that funds allocated were used for developmental projects. Oyedele also said the house would ensure that approvals were given to only implementable projects.
Some of the MDAs that were present at the defence on Monday included the Ministry of Education, Osun Mass Education Agency, ‎Osun State Polytechnic, Iree; Teachers Establishment and Pension Office.

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The Government of the State of Osun has described as very shameful, what it called the blatant lies of leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the party’s presidential campaigns rally in Osogbo on Tuesday.

An aide to Governor Rauf Aregbesola, Semiu Okanlawon, in a reaction to claims by the Vice President Namadi Sambo and the National Chairman of the Party, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, who asked workers in Osun to demand for their salaries claiming that Osun state government collects its federation account allocations as at when due, said it is a tragedy of immense proportion when people in exalted offices such that of the vice president of a country could descend so low to the point of telling barefaced lies to score cheap political points.

Okanlawon who is the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy in a statement, said both Muazu and Sambo should tell the world when last were civil servants under the direct employment of the Federal Government paid as at when due.

“It is easy for Sambo, Muazu and other discredited leaders of the PDP to come to Osun and tell blatant lies over Federal Government’s obligations and make bogus claims about non-existent federal government presence in Osun.

Apart from the continually unexplained late release of allocations, Okanlawon said it is an open truth that allocations to states have also dropped in an unimaginable proportion.

“How can Sambo and Muazu justify the criminal reductions in the allocations to a state like Osun from N4.6billion to N1.1billion? In a state where salaries of workers alone carry more than N3.6billion, what magic do the PDP leaders have to make any state fulfil its obligations as at when due? Even with Federal Government unfair chunk of the allocation, why does it owe federal workers salaries” he queried.

The governor’s aide said the irrational comments made by the PDP leaders over salaries further confirmed their evil plot to starve opposition’s states of funds as a ploy to turn the people against them.

“But their evil plans have failed woefully. Not only have the people of Osun comprehended the real reasons for the funds starvation, they have gone ahead to look for means of sustaining the state in spite of the disappearing funds from the Federal Government.

“In case Sambo and Muazu are not aware, workers in Osun under the umbrella of the Nigeria Labour Congress, have risen to the challenges. Rather than being in confrontations with the government of the APC under Aregbesola, they are brainstorming to come up with alternative plans to get funds to run the state efficiently. We are confident to state that only workers who know the prudence, capacity and commitment of their government to their welfare would do this,” Okanlawon said

He said it is particularly disheartening that the PDP leaders could list roads as part of their achievements in Osun.

“Are these roads constructed by the PDP federal government built in the sky? Have they forgotten that the people of Osun ply the Osogbo-Ilobu Road; Osogbo-Ilesa Road and other federal roads in Osun and ccan attest to the shameful conditions of these roads? Even the blind would confirm that everywhere they turn, it is the handworks of the Osun APC government they see on roads. Let the PDP government point to just one road it has initiated and completed and delivered for public use in the last 10 years. They certainly won’t have any to point to.”

The statement reminded the PDP leadership that just as it has never found any foothold in Osun since the advent of the Aregbesola administration; it will not have any inroad.

He added, “The PDP should remember that it suffered a humiliating defeat in 2011. Its criminal invasion of Osun also failed to make any impact in August 2014 as its candidate lost woefully. And just as the then ACN presidential candidate was voted overwhelmingly in 2011, the APC candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, will be voted in by the people of Osun.

“All these are because the government in Osun has demonstrated an unparalleled capacity to deliver good governance and transform the lives of the people.”

Okanlawon who also reacted to claim by the defeated candidate of the PDP in the last election, Mr. Iyiola Omisore, on alleged debt by the state, said Omisore has high reputation for unverified claims.

“As for Omisore, we know he is still dazed by the defeat he suffered in August last year that he can no longer remember that the it took the Director General of the Debt Management Office of the Presidency, to confirm that Osun’s debt is not in any way outside the limit of what it could get. In addition, the people of Osun have seen the outcome of the little borrowing in the massive transformations that have taken place in the state.”

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