AMILOADED MEDIA HUB NEWS UPDATE
A group, The Osun Masterminds, says Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke’s promise to ensure the completion of Ido Osun Airport will put the state into more financial trouble, AMILOADED reports.
The Osun Masterminds said this at a press conference addressed by its Executive Director, Prof. Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli, in Osogbo, the Osun State capital on Tuesday.
The group said the state resources were wasted to the construction of the airport by the former governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, adding that the project is one that several successive governments must be worried about and possibly probe.
It added that Governor Adeleke’s willingness to return Opon Imo to schools was worrisome, saying the move may lead him to go in the path of profligacy that characterized many policies of Aregbesola’s administration.
The Osun Masterminds said, “We noted a new romance between Gov. 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.
“Without necessarily singing the praise of the immediate past Governor, Alh. Gboyega Oyetola, we must still commend his boldness to reverse some of the wrong policies of his predecessor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. 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 openly expressing willingness to return Opon Imo to schools leaves us worried that he may be getting tempted to go in the path of profligacy that characterized many policies of the Aregbesola administration.
“If we were already not suspecting that the Governor was being tempted or pushed to take some really wrong steps, the Governor’s speech when he visited Ogbeni Aregbesola in his Abuja office, got us very worried. Gov. 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.”
Speaking on the disengagement of workers recruited by former governor, Gboyega Oyetola’s administration, The Osun Masterminds urged Adeleke to retain the workers for the sake of other positive arguments in favour of the process.
“It may be necessary, as we even strongly advise, to conduct a thorough screening for those persons employed to ensure that they are all qualified to be so employed. This screening should be to ensure that only quality hands were employed, not to find grounds for disengaging them. These people are necessary introduction to the State’s workforce and being bonafide citizens of the State themselves, their hopes must not be slaughtered on the altar of politics.
“We plead with the Governor and advise him to kindly sustain the employment of these 1500 citizens of the State. This step will facilitate improvement in the education sector, while also sustaining the necessary provision of employment to young persons in the State. It will also further present the Governor as a leaders for all, who will not make some sections of the State suffer for political expediences,” the group added.
The group, while condemning the surge of kidnappings other various crimes in Osun State, called on Governor Adeleke to swing into action, rejig the state’s security architecture and ensure security of lives and properties.
It also urged the security operatives in Osun State to immediately arrest those terrorising the state before the state is plunged into unrest.
“We again advise the Governor to engage all security agencies in the State, including the state-owned Amotekun Corps, and work out new modalities with them that will ensure the security of lives and properties. The perpetrators of armed robbery, killings and kidnappings that are fast becoming a regular occurrence in Osun, must be brought to book and quickly too.
“We cringe to imagine an Osun State that will move away from its once very peaceful situation into a chaotic and unsafe State. God forbid. The Governor must act now to restore confidence and secure this society,” The Osun Masterminds said.
The group further urged the Federal Government to ensure a proper transition process and also appeal to the courts to ensure that justice is served in all cases before them, to restore confidence in our democracy and the rule of constitutional law that it preaches.
“This open invitation to anarchy by the people calling for an interim government undermines our democracy and all lovers of the country must rise to condemn it. Any person or group of persons who is dissatisfied with the results of the last election must by provision of the law, approach the Election Tribunals already set up by the Supreme Court.
“Anything short of this obedience of the rule of law, is an open attempt at throwing our dear country into chaos, for the benefit of a few persons who desire to profit from crisis,’ it added.
It, therefore, called on the people of Osun State to take on the responsibility of joining developmental discourse and positive action that will make the development that the citizens desire happen.
“The country will not move forward except we all put our hands on deck to see it move forward,” The Osun Masterminds stressed.
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