By Waheed Adekunle
Without any sense of prejudice, malignancy, impugnancy, hatred or vilification, an empirical assessment of the administration of the incumbent Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke in the 365 days of being in the saddle has been the worst in the history of the state.
Since the creation of Osun in 1991, the state has never witnessed a monumental failure as being experienced under the incumbent government, as the ‘State of the Living Spring’ has remained stagnant and redundant in the last twelve months.
Recall that the Adeleke-led government, on assuming office in November 27th, 2022, ascended the leadership of the state on the mantra of lyrics and propagandist euphoria, pledged heaven and earth, promised to turn around the socio-economic fortune of the state, even within the six months of being in office.
The Governor who was full of himself, ignorantly boasted to turn Osun to a mega city while Osogbo, the state capital would witness astronomical facelift of development and become a ‘Small London” within six months of administering the affairs of the state, Alas! Osogbo has never witnessed any tangible project since Governor Adeleke assumed office in the last one year.
Coming to power to clamp down on known members of the opposition and perceived enemies, the Adeleke’s administration has been battling for survival as it plunges into irredeemable ditch thus making its survival practically impossible in the last one year.
The administration, despite the humongous funds at its disposal couldn’t boast of meaningful success but rather, the gale of political imbroglio that had pervaded the system, thus drifting the state to paths of destruction and backwardness.
Aside the fact that Osun was known for her discipline, integrity, honour and dignity and above all, as the ‘State of the Virtuous’, no doubt, the state has been growing wild in retrogressive backwardness since the emergence of the incumbent government.
The current administration had practically subjected the state to ridicule due to its glaring ineptitude, incompetence and palpable malfeasance in all sectors of the economy.
Going by its performance, one does not need to be told to know that unless for political patronage, nothing tangible has been achieved since Governor Adeleke came to power other than failed promises and glorification of political jamborees that had beclouded the sense of reasoning of some members of the ruling class.
The state government which started its nonexistent infrastructure project with phoney borehole project, ironically planned to be dung across the 332 political wards in the state at initial cost of N14million per one, later came to defend its failure of not fulfilling same after several months, claiming that the state only spent N1.5million on each of the failed borehole project.
Aside on the fact that many of the roads that were embarked on were not captured in the budget, the Adeleke’s administration failed woefully to deliver on many of the projects, but rather went ahead to feed the public with lies to justify its failures in that regard. Even the one or two that was done had gone bad again.
No doubt, the Adeleke’s administration only thrived on administrative incompetence openly and ignorantly displayed in the case of substantive Rector of the Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, Dr. Odetayo who was unjustly removed for selfish interest.
Ditto the foiled removal of the Chief Judge, Justice Adepele Ojo among others.
Even before the removal of Dr. Odetayo, the Adeleke’s government had initially sacked several heads of the government’s MDAs whereby General Manager, Osun Ambulance Services, Executive Secretary, Osun Health Insurance Scheme among other top careerists that had risen to the peak of their careers were cruelly sacked for political reasons.
The despicable and despondent act culminated into the horrific suspension of some traditional rulers, an action that actually exposed the citizens to the endemic rudderless, ruthlessness and leadership recklessness of the Adeleke’s government.
Ever since the revered royal fathers were diabolically removed from the thrones of their forebears, the state government under the leadership of Senator Adeleke has done nothing to reinstall the affected monarchs let alone come up with any black or white paper to justify their supposed dethronement.
The governor’s failed Review Committee were still unable to make public the outcomes of their findings up till now. The question agitating the mind is that, ‘what is the fate of the affected monarchs in the last one year’?
Instead of Governor Adeleke to face governance squarely, he had resorted to vengeance, hiring and firing at his whims and caprices, as this resolve led to the total clampdown declared on both Statutory and Non-statutory Commissions and Boards.
The administration of Governor Adeleke has failed woefully due to its abysmal performance in the last one year, yet his government has been thriving on impunity, illegality and incompetence.
The only legacy that Adeleke’s government will be remembered for as he marks one year in office is nothing but failure, as citizens would not forget in a jiffy all he has done to take Osun back to 10 years of backwardness within one year.
Many were illegally and forcefully removed to pave way for the Governor’s kinsmen and stooges thereby making impunity to freely thrive in the state.
The Governor had initially sacked all the 20,000 volunteers of the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme, a youth platform established under the administration of former Governor Rauf Aregbesola and sustained by his successor, Adegboyega Oyetola.
Also, no fever than 1500 teachers recruited into the teaching profession in the state by the immediate past administration were arbitrarily sacked by the Adeleke led-government all for political reasons. The same treatment applied to over 300 health workers employed by his predecessor.
Despite the reasonable monthly statutory allocation to the state, coupled with the special supports from the Federal Government and notable aids and grants received from local and international agencies, the Adeleke’s administration could not justify what the state had earned with anything, rather he has been running the economy aground even in the face of financial supports.
Inspite of the untold hardship occasioned by the fuel subsidy removal, coupled with the humongous funds received from federal government as support to lessen the excruciating effects on the citizens, the Adeleke’s government has done nothing meaningful to justify same in the last four months of the receipt of the funds.
It is no more news that Osun received ₦9billion at different occasions to address the socio-economic challenges attached to the subsidy removal, but up till now, nothing was done to impact positively on the lives of the citizens.
In the same vein, the state under the watch of Governor Adeleke received closed to 20,000 bags of 50kg rice from the federal government as palliative, yet no ordinary citizen receives a cup of rice up until now. Meaning that the entire bags of rice had disappeared into thin air.
The recent disclosure of allocation of ₦10billion as expenses appropriated for meals and refreshments for the Governor’s office is not only a ruse, but very despotic and inhuman, particularly at a time the citizens are undergoing exacerbating hardship daily.
While Governor Adeleke had practically wasted the monetary inheritance to the tune of ₦14billion, bequeathed by his predecessor, Adegboyega Oyetola, the state under Governor Adeleke’s watch had received nothing less than ₦130billion from different sources as revenue into the coffers of the state in the last twelve months.
Though the discerning citizens are worried on the unfolding manifestations so far, but the fact remains that the leopard of Adeleke’s government can never change its skin.
No doubt, the reasons eventually emerged on the premeditated trip skillfully arranged for the Governor to dodge and escape possible embarrassment that may come from his failures to deliver on the promises made to the people while seeking office. This and lot more had shown clearly that Osun is drifting towards irredeemable ditch unless it is rescued as soon as possible.
How on earth, could a serious government, that’s confident of its achievements, decides to schedule and embark on a purported continental working vacation trip to a time like this, when the citizens will be keenly interested to hear from the horse’s mouth, his account of stewardship in the last one year?
Though, there is no secret under the sun, as the governor and his aides continue to cover their coverups, it is interesting that their ‘open secrets’ is already in the public domain as many are aware of the medical vacation that the Governor embarked on against what is being painted. The wind has blown and we have seen the anus of the hen.
The fact is that, the governor should begin to count down his days in office as events to his first year anniversary remain a pointer to the fact that the People’s Democratic Party, PDP’s government meant no good for the great citizens of the state.
May God heals our land.
