Group to Adeleke: Stay away from Aregbesola’s policies
By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo
A Coalition of Civil Societies under the aegis of The Osun Masterminds has cautioned Governor Ademola Adeleke not to embark on some policies of former governor of the state and Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola.
The group, in its state-of-the-state address for April and signed by its Executive Director, Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli, warned Adeleke against being used in dragging the state backward.
The statement partly reads: “We noted a new romance between Governor Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke and a former Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. We do not have any business with whomever the governor chooses to interact with, but some utterances that have followed the interactions leave us worried that our state may unknowingly be headed in the wrong direction that we sadly had to reverse from when Ogbeni Aregbesola left office.
“Prominent among these policies was the woeful introduction of Opon Imo into secondary schools. Aside the processes of procurement being flawed, the standard of the tablets themselves for teaching and learning were so poor that the policy eventually attracted condemnations from many quarters. It ended up as a resource drain that put our dear state in a worse financial state, without any positive returns.
“The governor’s speech when he visited Ogbeni Aregbesola in his Abuja office, got us very worried. Governor Adeleke was quoted as assuring the former governor that he would ensure completion of the Ido Osun Airport.
“We must state that the unprecedented waste of our State’s resources that went into the idea of constructing an airport in Ido Osun is one that several successive governments must be worried about and possibly probe. A simple Google search would reveal how officials of the Aregbesola government admitted that state funds, running into billions, were spent on constructing the airport. Today, we find nothing of worth on ground.
“We advise the governor to exercise serious restraints with his statements in support of any past policy in Osun. We are aware that he may have built some political friendship with the Aregbesola political tendency, but he must not allow himself be used to drag Osun back into an era of financial recklessness and undertaking of white elephant projects that will push Osun back into insolvency.
“We are particularly bothered that this state is not at any point of financial strength yet, to begin pursuing such costly ideas that will put us in more financial trouble.
“The governor must thread the path of financial caution as Osun is just returning from some serious financial mess and is not fully on its feet yet. All government spending must be towards sustaining the little growth we have made in recent years and facilitating homegrown developmental solutions, not white elephant projects.”
Oyedokun-Alli also implored the governor to reconsider his stance on the sacking of the 1,500 teachers employed by Gboyega Oyetola during the sunset of his administration.
