Group accuses Osun govt of sponsoring attack against Aregbesola

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo

A socio-political group in Osun State, the Progressives Minded Forum (PMF) has accused the state government of sponsoring some individuals and a particular civil society organisation, The Osun Masterminds, to discredit the Minister of Interior, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola.

The Osun Masterminds had on Monday called some select journalists to a press conference accusing Aregbesola of plunging the state to debt which was responsible for the minus allocation to the state from FAAC. 

The group noted that the state government received a negative allocation of -N375million from the FAAC, out of a possible N1.45billion, at the end of February 2022, saying that the implication is that the state will be paying back an extra sum of N375million from next month’s allocations, plus the deductions already waiting in that month.

The group who described the legacies of Aregbesola’s government as retrogressive said: “The Osun government under Aregbesola claimed it expended over N8billion on Opon Imo for schools. The gadgets are today nowhere to be found, after gulping such humongous figures.

“Without clear understanding of usefulness and future benefits, the Aregbesola administration expended a whoopingN248million on construction of the Hassan Olajokun park in Gbongan. Less than a year after Ogbeni Aregbesola himself commissioned the park, it became home to reptiles and other wild animals, having been left unused and in a state of disrepair. 

“In March 2018, Ogbeni Aregbesola himself confessed that the concession arrangement for the construction of the MKO Abiola Airport had failed, after the state government had spent N3.5billion on nonexistent ground works that cannot be seen today.

“For years, the Osun State government, under Ogbeni Aregbesola also expended over N1.2billion on the O’Callisthenics programme that had neither economic benefits nor immediate gains for the education sector. In four years, Osun thus spent close to N5billion on a poorly thought-out project that it neither had the finances for, nor could gain anything meaningful from.”

But, PMF in a swift reaction on Tuesday in a statement signed by its coordinator, Sunday Oriowo said: “The Progressives Minded Forum brings to the attention of the general public a failed government sponsored attack on the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola yesterday in Osogbo, Osun State. 

“The Monday failed attack was malicious civil actions sponsored by some aides to Governor Gboyega Oyetola. We believed these government officials were acting on behalf of the governor, who is determined to carry on his bitter politics against his benefactor, Aregbesola. This first civil action failed why the second did not get the desired attention. 

“The first malicious action sponsored by the government against the minister was the mobilization of some people who were to disguise as pensioners in the state to protest against the minister during the commissioning of the 72-unit Federal Mortgage Housing Estate in Abere. 

“But the plan failed because security agents had been duly informed ahead. The information leaked out when the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Mr. Jamiu Olawumi, was confidently telling some people on WhatsApp platforms on Sunday evening that ‘pensioners will welcome Aregbesola tomorrow’. 

“The information was processed and it was discovered that the government had paid some people to disguise as pensioners and protest against the former governor of the state. Security agents were duly informed and the plan was thwarted.

“Having failed in the first plan, the government activated its second plan by engaging ‘The Osun Masterminds’, a group known for its hypocrisy, money-driven opinion and financially induced press conferences, to launch attack on the minister, in a desperate bid to discredit his official assignment in Osogbo. 

“It is important to note that The Masterminds is a group of four or five disgruntled elements who are willing tools in the hands of the government. No wonder the PDP described them as group of people with inglorious activities and followers of many mushroom CSOs with which they used to dupe political parties, governments and unsuspecting individuals.”

However, PMF asked Governor Oyetola to tell the people the actual debt profile of the state when he took over power in 2018, the repayment method and projects that the loans were expended on. 

PMF also urged the governor to disclose ‘other deductions’ which made Osun to receive negative allocation from the Federal Government and the actual amount being generated as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).