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Tag: OSUN

  • LP to take over Osun, says Nwanyawu

    LP to take over Osun, says Nwanyawu

    The National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Dan Nwanyawu, has said the party was set to take over Osun State.

    Speaking at the weekend at the launch of the campaign of the LP governorship candidate, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, at the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, Osogbo, he said there was need for a change of government because the All Progressives Congress (APC) government led by Governor Rauf Aregbesola had not met the people’s aspirations.

    Nwanyawu promised that the LP would reduce tuition fees in tertiary institutions and offer quality education at all levels if voted into power on August 9.

    He said the party’s programmes and policies, which he noted the Ondo State people are enjoying, will be replicated in Osun State when the LP takes over.

    Nwanyawu stressed the need for the people to embrace the LP, saying it is the only party with the interest of the masses at heart.

    Akinbade promised to implement the party’s cardinal programmes if voted into power.

  • Ondo indigenes in Osun urged to vote for Aregbesola

    Ondo indigenes in Osun urged to vote for Aregbesola

    The indigenes of Ondo State resident in Osun State have been charged to come out enmasse and vote  for  Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in his re-election bid as  governor in the August 9  governorship poll.

    Hon. Ifedayo Sunday Abegunde, representing the Akure North and South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, gave the charge after a tour of 30 local governments by the Oranmiyan Sunshine Movement to rally support of all Ondo indigenes residing in the state for Aregbesola’s re-election.

    Abegunde said he could foresee Aregbesola winning the election because he had done alot for the state.

    He said: “Aregbesola has given a sence of belonging to  every Ondo indigene within the state through his innovative policies and programmes.

    He reminded them of their numerical strenght, therefore, saying their votes are very important in the coming election.

    Also, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Ondo State and co-ordinator, Oranmiyan Sunshine Movement, Hon. Saka Yussuf Ogunleye, said Aregbesola’s popularity confirmed that he performed creditably.

    Ogunleye, who noted that despite the low Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state compared to Ondo State where he comes from, Aregbesola has achieved more than Governor Olusegun Mimiko.

  • Osogbo prepares for Osun festival

    Osogbo prepares for Osun festival

    IT has been on for close to 800 years. And for many more years to come, the romance between a people and their patron goddess would continue.

    So far, the Osogbo people never fail to call the whole world to their city in honour of their goddess, Osun. And for many indigenes and worshippers of the Osun goddess, that is the source of prosperity for the town and people of Osogbo. Next month, tourists would once again troop to the ancient artistic Osogbo kingdom to celebrate with the city as it holds another Osun Osogbo festival.

    But the festival has gone beyond a  festival for the people of Osogbo. Whatever cultural tourism value Nigeria has in the world, Osun Osogbo festival and the Osun grove contributed greatly to it. For tourists interested in experiencing the celebration of the festival, it is time to start making travel arrangements, especially accommodation as there never seems to be enough bed spaces in the city, especially on the grand finale.

    Being a festival that attracts huge tourist traffic to Osogbo during the 17-day event, corporate organizations have latched unto it to promote their products and make huge sales.

    So, it has become a kind of custom for the Osun Osogbo marketers, Infogem Limited, to unveil the each year’s activities at a corporate forum. The forum is also an opportunity for the marketers and the Osogbo Heritage Council to announce date for the event and unveil sponsors for the year’s edition. One of the things that has made the Osun Osogbo festival a cultural- cum- touristic activity is the custodians’ ability to not open up the festival to activities within, outside grove and traditional rites.

    As such Osun Osogbo has become a festival that has evolved over the years, incorporating activities that attract both the young and the old, it attracts also individuals and corporate organizations. So, Osun Osogbo celebrates the ancient and the modern. This is reflected in activities lined up for the celebration. It will hold next month. Iwopopo, the traditional cleansing, which signals the beginning of the annual festival, is set for Monday,August 11. Aside this traditional rite, there will be fun for tourists.

    The Iwopopo Town Storming, a  musical fiesta, would also be on the card. The Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria’s (FTAN) Osun Forum will hold on the 12th, while the Festival of Art Exhibition’s opening ceremony and Ayo Olopon (traditional ayo games) will be on Wednesday, August 13. Olojumerindinlogun, the Lighting of a 16- Point Lamp will hold on August 14.

    The lamp itself is of great interest as it is reputed to be over 500 years old. Another key traditional event, called Iboriade, is on Monday, August 18.  Iboriade is the celebration of royalty and ancestry of the Osogbo people. On display will be the crowns worn by past Ataoja, oba of Osogbo’s title. The crowns date back to hundreds of years. Susanne Wenger’s Sacred Colloquium will hold on Wednesday, August 20.

    The grand finale is expected to hold on Friday, August 22. This year’s event would conclude with the Osun Festival Trade Fair, a day after the traditional grand finale. In its effort to help Osun Osogbo continue to develop as a destination, the Osun State government said it had spent N147,385,250 in the last three years to uplift the festival.

    This was disclosed by the Special Adviser to the Osun State Governor on Tourism and Culture, Mr. Ladi Soyode. He said since the inception of the Aregbesola administration, “the promotion of matters that have to do with the Yoruba cultural renaissance is given a pride of place.”

    According to him, this was because “the objectives of reviving our traditional industries like cloth dying and weaving, bead making, carving of art works in various mediums, revival of traditional hair styles, the promotion of ancient festivals and celebration in majestic proportions will not only reduce poverty by encouraging industry, but promote the ethos of Omoluabi which form the basis of the socio-political ideology of the Aregbesola administration in Osun.”

    Soyode gave a breakdown of last year’s  festival arrivals. The festival attracted 21, 713 domestic tourists, while 123 in-bound tourists also attended the fair last year. He  said the state government was committed to the following activities at this year’s festival: Tourism Ambassadors Programme, Osun Osogbo Festival Trade Fair, the Festival Marathon Walk, Osun Osogbo Food Festival and the festival concert. Giving the history of the festival, the Festival Co-ordinator, Chief Jimoh Buraimoh, said the relationship between the town of Osogbo and the Osun goddess started around 1370 AD with an encounter between the founders of Osogbo and the Osun Osogbo deity.

    He said: “In about 1370 AD, founder of Osogbo, Oba Gbadewolu Larooye, and the great hunter, Olutimehin, settled in the sacred Osun forest to establish the kingdom and actualized a pact of association and togetherness with the river deity. Since then, Osogbo has remained a peaceful, progressive and benevolent city without any ravage of war or pestilence. This is the pact of association which rekindled every year in the month of August.”

    Buraimoh described the activities associated with the festival as springboard for cultural development in Osun State and Nigeria in general. He said despite the influence of western civilization, education and religion, the festival has, to a large extent, maintained its originality, authenticity and acceptability worldwide.

    From plans being put in place, it is going to be another successful edition. Also sponsors such as  MTN, Nigerian Breweries and brands such as Seaman’s, Alomo, Eko Hotel  and many others have identified with this year’s edition.

  • ‘Osun ‘ll vote for continuity’

    ‘Osun ‘ll vote for continuity’

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola spoke with reporters in Osogbo, the state capital, on his administration, the Ekiti governorship election and preparations for the August 9 poll in the State of the Living Springs. Excerpts:

    The governorship election will hold in Osun State next month. How can the APC  avert what happened during the Ekiti poll?

    A genuine democrat must be willing and ready to embrace defeat as he or she will embrace victory, provided the election is transparent, credible, free and fair. The real issue is not about you as a candidate, but the quality of the electoral process. Once the quality is good and high, whatever the people say is the final because they are the ultimate decider of who represents or govern them. Democratic choices is expected to be correct, good and right, but it is not always that the choice is good, correct and right. Long before I assumed this office, I prepared so well for the office in a way that, going by the normal run, I should not be working as hard as I am working now for re-election. I am one of the politicians that from day one began my campaign. From the day I entered this office, I started my campaign. How many governors walk the streets with their citizens? I have been doing that since the first month in office. How many governors creates interactive forum in Nigeria before me? There is none. I was the first governor that devoted close to 10 hours of continuous engagement on a quarterly basis with the citizens.

    The ‘Ogbeni Till Day Break’ is a worldwide engagement because we take feedbacks from social media. Hardly is there any community in this state that I have not touched personally. In terms of physical and social services, this is the first government that will say that there is no household, be it the PDP, be it the APC and others, that our programme has not reached, there is none. I feed 300,000 pupils every school day at the cost of N3.6 billion a year, I have been doing it since 2012 and I have spent N7.2 billion on that. The students consume 15,000 whole chicken every week and it is served twice. They consume 300,000 eggs every week, one egg a week. They consume 400 tons of fish every week. They consume 35 herds of cattle every week. We gave close to N600 million to the poultry farmers and also the fish farmers.

    Also, 1000 new farmers who we raised to produce cocoyam are in this, close to 500  ‘O’Yes  cadets’ are equally empowered to outtake the cocoyam and give to the vendors. Also, tens of thousands are equally engaged providing different items. From this alone, close to one million people are directly impacted from just one programme, ‘O’meal’. We have the second batch of O’Yes cadets, the first batch of 20,000 had gone, the 2nd batch of 20,000 is on and they are from homes. They work two or three days a week and they have the entire days of week left for them to see what they can do with their hands and earn a living because they are taught entrepreneurial training but they earn N10,000 monthly as cadets. On this scheme alone, this administration has spent N9 billion. I tell people what this type of scheme means for national government. You can’t say I don’t have 18 friends who I can give half a billion naira contract to, whether they do it or not, I would have still given it. But, the maximum amount of that investment that will stay here will be less than 50 per cent, yes, you will have the project here but there would still be capital flight because we are talking about direct impact on the economy.  O’Yes have changed the paradigm; 100 per cent of that N9 billion is in this economy.

    The programme has huge economic benefit to the state. Every O ‘Yes cadet has a smart card and the issue of anyone handling or tampering with their money does not arise. We are one of the few government that develops a meaningful programme for elderly citizens care. We are not into a blanket social welfare scheme for the elderly, we have a package that did an extensive survey of citizens that are 65 years and above, we have them in our database. We now identified those among them that are without any support, that is the first time any government will so do in Nigeria. We engaged a consultant, who is a professor of gerontology in OAU, Ile-Ife . He developed the programme they used and without sentiment or parochialism, they got elderly citizens that lack support, we called them critically vulnerable people who are aged but have nobody to care for them. If we did not discover them, nobody will know such people exist in Nigeria because they are waiting to die because they lack everything. We identified 1,800 of such people state wide.

    The selection was purely based on their conditions, not primodial sentiment. We didn’t do the selection anyway, Professor Ogunbameru of OAU administered everything, gave us the list and the addresses. We have been giving them N10,000 monthly since 2012.Your question is if am bothered about Ekiti, I don’t even think about it. As a loyal APC member, I was disturbed. But, as a head of  a government that has worked so well with the people, I don’t even see the effect. I look at my engagement with the people, the products of my government, which has not left any home unaffected positively, and I said if election is about acceptance, popularity and impact you have made on the people, we are waiting for what the dictate of democracy would be. In a credible, transparent, free and fair election, Rauf Aregbesola does not have any worry at all about what people will say about his administration.

     Is your administration in good terms with four critical sectors, namely teachers, civil servants, okada riders and students?

    Let us start with the students. When we came in, students were given a bursary of N3,000 and they won’t even get the bursary on time and it was full of scam. They brought it to me to sign and I said why do I have to sign N3,000 for anybody? We raised the bursary to N10,000 flat. For medical and law students N20,000 while our indigenes in the Law School get N100,000. I don’t see how such students will hate us. I can’t see it. Whoever now hates us has something else against us not for the fact that we have not done the needful. The increase wasn’t solicited; we did it out of our own understanding of the reality of what the students are going through. There was clamor for the reduction of fees. We reduced the fees from a huge amount to something that is comparably affordable. Also, we have been investing in developing the institutions much more than any administration has done in the history of this state.

    For okada riders, they have no problem with us. They may want us to do things for them as we have done to some other groups, but it not as if they said, compared to others, these are the problems. The roads here are appreciated even by those who used legs. Has any government succeeded in constructing 200 kilometres of road in all the nooks and crannies of the state? There is no part of this state that we have not constructed a new road and it is not just any road, but roads with concrete drainage, with stone base and kick asphaltic cover and above all, when I get to campaign grounds, I say our roads have tribal marks. We now have special roads. When we complete some of them, they will be tourism attraction and centres on their own. The road we are building in Gbogan, people will be coming to look at it, mark my words. That road you see, Gbongan/Akoda Road will be a tourism attraction because it is not an ordinary road because its a road that took me time to conceive and design and we are taking our time to develop it. We also want to tell the world that the black man is a human being. I have two major objectives on earth. One is to help in the process of eliminating poverty because I hate poverty. I wasn’t born poor, but I feel bad to see people in destitution. Two is that I don’t like how blacks are in the world today. As long as I live, I must be part of the process that will give the black man a good reckoning where they are because sadly, we are in the lowest part of civilisation. I have been everywhere in the World, except the continent of Australia, and in everywhere in the world, the most depressing portion of it is inhabitated by blacks. These are the two issues that motivate me.

    What about civil servants?

    Before our advent, the civil servants never knew that salary could be paid before the end of the month. For seven and half year, salaries were never paid here before the end of the month. But, from when I assumed office, we changed that. Before the year ended when I assumed office, I paid 10 per cent of their basic as the 13th month salary and paid December salary before the end of the year.

    The civil servants were dazed. Since that day up until December 2013, I pay salary on or before the 25th of every month. But, as from January 2014, we ran into trouble which we explained to everybody six months before then. In July 2013, the Federal Government began a squeeze. They said 400,000 barrel of crude oil is being stolen everyday. We didn’t know the problem was coming. Instead of collecting N4.6 billion, they gave this government N2.6 billion, 40 per cent slashed. We thought it will be temporary because, after that month, they said the stolen crude has reduced to 200,000 barrel per day. When the oil being lost reduced, would you still expect a 40 per cent cut? From that July to now, the maximum allocation this state has ever received is N3.2 billion, which was in November 2013. I am not making up anything, simply saying the truth. Now ask me how was I able to pay up until December 2013? My people are called osomalo. They are very deft in the management of money and I took this from them. I had been saving through the ‘Omoluwabi Conservation Fund’ in which 10 per cent of all allocation must just go and rest. So, I had money in reserve, which was a build-up from my refusal to form cabinet for 10 months. I had the money. Whereas my income fell to N2.6billion at the lowest and N3.4billion at the highest for a month, my statutory expenditures, which are expenditures that I have no control on, once we have agreed on it, for instance salary, pension and they are N3.6 billion every month, I have no power over it. I can’t say no Iam not paying, Between July and December, I augmented my income with N5.4 billion.  All in the hope that this thing will go, it didn’t go. It has not gone as we speak, it is even worse. Before, when you get your allocation, you will cash it by the 15th of every month, that is why they are paying salaries on the 15th of the month before we came in.To make up the deficit in what I received and what I must pay, I spent extra N5.4 billion. However, I told you earlier that I gave 10 per cent of basic salary for 13th month salary; the second year I gave 25 per cent; the third year I gave 50 per cent; the fourth year, I gave 100 per cent. So, December of 2013, I gave every worker in the employment of Osun 100 per cent of their basic salary as extra income, which I paid before the end of the year. Why should any worker say I am not friendly with them?  Before, workers here were given their leave allowances enbloc at the end of the year, I told them this is unresonable because we don’t go on leave at the same time. So, choose when you want your leave allowance to be paid. Is it at your birthday or the anniversary of your employment into the service. So, whenever you summit your birthday, your leave allowance will be credited to you. I don’t know if any other government in Nigeria that does that. Two, go and visit the secretariat and see what we have made of their work enviroment.  So, if these are things that should motivate workers, I stand tall and proud because I have done my best. As we speak, we have not collected June allocation. They might not give us June allocation until the end of August. But, we will pay our workers, already we have pay June. I am happy to tell you that majority of our civil servants see and appreciate what we are doing. You can to the secretariat and see what we are doing. We increased the car loan by 400 per cent; we increased housing loans by 100 per cent. For 36 out of 43 months we have been paying regularly, let’s even assume that there is a problem of delayed payments now, I cannot believe all the workers will be against us because I have done my best. If the demonstration of interest of workers in their remuneration and allowances counts and with what we have done, I don’t think they will be against us.

    I read the advert they published and I laughed because it indicted them. They wrote that my income was N2.8 billion and this is what I have to pay, N3.4billion and pegged it with state and local governments. There is no way I can touch the local government account because it is separate and distinct. I can only give policy statements on that.

    What about teachers?

    Our teachers in the state are now very well motivated such that you cannot distinguished between our them and bank workers. When you see a teacher in Osun before you know. They are so depressed, unmotivated and absence of facilities. Our teachers now appear corporate and well-motivated. This is the first government that will say that you don’t need to buy textbooks for your children in the high school, Opon Imo and its targeted at 150,000 students. It is a high school a library of 53 textbooks.

    Are you prepared for a possible lockdown of the state, few days to the election?

    You see, I came here from the street and it is easy for me to go back to the street. My real home is on the street. Whoever will hold me on the street will try. I laugh when they talk about me because they don’t know I am from the street.

    What is your perception about the term stomach infrastructure?

    To those people who are the elite and are therefore separated from the people, this term may make a new meaning. I am a product of the popular forces, the people. I am part and parcel of them. I emanated from them. Iam a product of their struggles. What is now known as stomach infrastructure is what we know as interaction, engagement, living with the people and meeting their aspirations and needs. That is what we have been doing from the very beginning of this administration; I feed their children every day meal.

    My administration does not suffer alienation from the people. It is one and same with the people and that is the basis of our confidence in their ever ready support at all times.

    Is there any aspect of the state that you think you have not touched?

    There is no trade, commercial or social group in the state of Osun that we have not impacted.  There is no aspect. Apart from Lagos, we are the only state government that has an emergency call center but has been made dysfunctional because the federal government just refused to give us short code to make it work. It has been ready for the past 13 to 18 months ago. If that centre had been activated, we acquired a helicopter that will get to the farthest place of this state in 15 minutes to attend to emergency issues. It won’t cost the federal government a dime but to just direct the NCC to allow us use their 122 line. I wrote to the president that emergency does not know political parties, what we don’t want is needless death because of absence of emergency services and the state of the art facilities is still lying down there fallow.

  • 50 monachs lobby confab for Oduduwa State

    50 monachs lobby confab for Oduduwa State

    NO fewer than 50 Osun State first class traditional rulers stepped up yesterday  a lobby at the National Conference to approve the creation of Oduduwa State.

    The conference had last Thursday listed the names of 18 new states to be created in the country, including two from the Southwest geo-political zone.

    The delegates noted also that the name of the third state to be created from the Southwest zone with its capital would be announced later.

    The Olojudo of Ido-Osun, Oba Aderemi Adedapo, who led the lobby group, addressed reporters in Abuja, where he renewed the call for the creation of Oduduwa State.

    Oba Adedapo noted that it was gratifying that the National Conference has announced the creation of additional 18 states – two for the Southwest out of the intended three.

    He listed the two announced states as New Oyo and Ijebu states.

    The royal father added however that it was disheartening that the proposed Oduduwa State is yet to be listed despite the fact that it was on the memorandum submitted by the National Association of State Creation Movement (NASM) and Oduduwa State Movement.

    He recalled that the request for state creation from the old Oyo State in 1983 included among others, Oduduwa and Osun states.

    He noted that while the then proposed Osun State included Ede, Ejigbo, Ifelodun, Ila, Irepodun, Osogbo, Iwo and Odo Otin areas, the proposed Oduduwa State had Atakunmosa, Ayedaade, Ife Central, Ife North, Ife South, Irewole, Isokan, Oriade and Obokun.

    Oba Adedapo, who is also secretary, Council of Yoruba Obas, said it was most unfortunate that the debates on state creation were brought to an abrupt end by the military intervention of 1983.

    He noted that even after the eventual creation of Osun State, the clamour for the creation of Oduduwa did not abate.

    According to him, in December 1995, the leaders from the proposed Oduduwa State submitted a memorandum while the same was also done in March 1996 when traditional rulers, chiefs and community leaders from the area signed another memorandum requesting for the creation of Oduduwa State.

    He added that in 2009, the Osun State Council of Obas examined the agitation for the creation of a new state out of the present Osun State and found it desirable and justifiable.

    The Council, he said, was also satisfied that both the new and what will be left in the existing Osun State will be economically viable and sustainable.

    “The historical significance of Oduduwa as the progenitor of the Yoruba race and Ile-Ife as the cradle of Yoruba in Nigeria and the Diaspora are some of the compelling reasons for the endorsement by the council’s call for the creation of Oduduwa State,” he said.

    The endorsement, he said, was signed by 50 senior traditional rulers of the Osun State Council of Obas.

    He said that the proposed state will cover a land area of 8,853,22 square kilometres with approximate population of over 1.7 million people based on the 2006 census figure.

    Asides Oba Adedapo, others at the briefing included Prof. Muibi Opeloye, President Ife Development Board, Prof. Steve Adewusi, member Ife Development Board, Alhaji Ajagbe Akewasola, member, Ife Development Board, Prince Gbenga Omiwole, General Secretary, Oduduwa State and National Secretary, National Association of State Movement.

     

    END

  • Omisore’s mask

    It is appropriate to ponder the import of the news picture of a masked man with a gun standing protectively behind Senator Iyiola Omisore, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Osun State governorship election on August 9, reportedly during electioneering. It was an unusual and a thought-provoking image, and it is no surprise that the rival All Progressives Congress (APC), the party of the incumbent governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who is seeking a second term, was alarmed.

    In reaction, the party’s Director of Research, Publicity and Strategy, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, issued a statement, saying: “Omisore was spotted during his campaign guarded by a masked, suspected armed terrorist, the first of its kind in the political history of electioneering in Yorubaland.”  He accused Omisore of “hiding behind security cover to intimidate the electorate with masked men and armed suspected terrorists,” adding: “Political terrorism has arrived in Nigeria’s democratic space by the evil construct of the PDP.”

    Interestingly, but certainly not convincingly,  Omisore’s spokesman, Mr. Diran Odeyemi, tried to shed light on his security arrangement and the identities of his guards. The defender said: “In the campaign train are men from SSS (State Security Service), the Police, Civil Defence. PDP will never preach violence; neither do we rely on thugs to win election.”  But, significantly, the counter-statement failed to explain the use of a mask. Perhaps even more importantly, there was no denial of the use of a mask.

    By creative interpretation, it is possible that the presence of the masked protector was nothing more than a publicity stunt by a candidate who is under pressure to be noticed. If that was the case, then the trick worked, given the attention he has received on account of the oddity. However, it looks like a desperately shortsighted promotional approach because it is overloaded with negativity and may be predictably counter-productive in the long run.  Beyond an imaginative rationalisation of the spectacular development, it must be recognised that the appearance of the masked one indeed had psychologically terrorising value that cannot be trivialised. If the security guards were truly from the claimed sources, why was it necessary to create mystification by introducing a mask, with all the rattling implications?

    Whoever was behind the mask, or even more specifically, behind the idea of the mask, must be considered an enemy of decency. Surely, it is not a civilised conduct to wear or project a face of terror in the society, particularly in the context of a democratic contest for power.

    Against this background, it may be important to look beyond the guard’s actual mask and contemplate the metaphoric mask, which probably covers Omisore’s face.  A power-seeking individual who is not personally repulsed by the very thought of a mask-wearing protector ought to be viewed with suspicion, if not trepidation. It represents a dangerous signal not only about his personality, but also about his values. Such a person deserves to be unmasked; and it is a welcome irony that he has started the process himself by employing a masked robot.

     

     

     

     

     

  • 2015: Battle for Southwest

    2015: Battle for Southwest

    The die is cast between theAll Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Southwest. Last month, the PDP recaptured Ekiti State at the governorship election. Next month, both parties will be competing for the Government House, Osun State. 12222Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI and Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN write on the battle for the soul of the region.

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) is not leaving any stone unturned as it prepares for the next month’s governorship election in Osun State. Against the background of the loss of the  governorship election in Ekiti State, the party has every reason to believe the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is intent on replicating the strategy it employed in Ekiti State to win the August 9 election in Osun State and other sstates in the region. Though an independent survey by a coalition of civil society organisations has it predicted that Governor Rauf Aregbesola will win the poll by more than 80 per cent of the votes, the APC  has cried out over the delay in releasing permanent voters’ cards. The party believes that the Federal Government has started implementing its strategy to skew the election in Osun in favour of the PDP, as it did in Ekiti.

     

    PDP and stomach

    infrastructure

     

    Beyond Ekiti and Osun, the PDP appears bent on ensuring that states which were previously controlled by them before the APC took over in the Southwest are won back in subsequent elections. The strategy, according to reports, include the harmonizing factions in Ogun, Osun and Oyo States, which were PDP states and ensuring that only credible and accepted candidates are fielded for elections.

    “We used Ekiti to test run our new strategy. We fielded former governor Ayodele Fayose, a man loved by his people from the top to bottom and it paid off. That is the way we will henceforth go. We will capitalize on Ekiti victory and fix our party in other opposition states where we have potentials to win,” a source who would not want to be named told The Nation.

    Indeed, the party has begun moves to resolve the crisis in its Osun chapter, with a view to winning the  election in the state. As part of the strategy, President Goodluck Jonathan last week  held a closed-door meeting with the former Osun State governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Although the agenda of the meeting was not disclosed, it was learnt that it is part of efforts by the ruling PDP to win the election.

    The PDP’s candidate, Iyiola  Omisore, is the major challenger. The former governor, who was controversially removed as the National Secretary of the PDP,  is challenging his removal  in court. He is believed to wield a major influence in Osun.

    Oyinlola was a member of the New PDP, which was formed when some PDP governors fell out with the former party chairman, Bamanga Tukur. When the New PDP eventually merged with the APC,  Oyinlola decided to remain in the PDP. A known loyalist of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Oyinlola is being courted by Aregbesola. While addressing journalists after the meeting, the Okuku-born politician would not disclose details of his discussion with President Jonathan. He said he was determined to reclaim his position as the National Secretary of the PDP.  He said anyone occupying the office is a pretender.

    The APC believes the ruling party is already fanning ambers of disunity in Osun, by using its federal might. A source in Osogbo told The Nation in confidence that the Presidency has advanced huge money to the war chest of Iyiola Omisore Campaign Organisation to prosecute the  election. According to the source, the  ruling party has also directed 18 PDP governors to contribute money each to the war chest. The source said  the money is being used to facilitate the party’s victory.

    Indeed, the opposition party is of the view that the clampdown on the media in recent times is part of the strategy of the PDP-led Federal Government to capture Osun State. It insists that it is part of a grand strategy to silence Nigerians. According to its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the clamp-down on the media has nothing to do with the Boko Haram or any ‘intelligence’ report. His words: “That is a ruse. Journalists do not carry weapons. They only fight with words. In fact, this terror band called Boko Haram has had occasions to threaten the media with attack over their reports exposing the terrorists for what they are. Therefore, the unprecedented and utterly indefensible clampdown on the media is part of a sinister plot that is not unconnected with the elections scheduled for this and next year.

    “The PDP-led federal government’s strategy is simple: We must capture Ekiti and Osun at all cost, even when we may not have the votes to win the states. After that, we can then dare anyone who alleges rigging or election manipulation to head to court. In the meantime, we must tamper with the freedom of expression and the right to information, of which the media is at the vanguard.”

    The party said anyone that believes this strategy is far-fetched only needs to look at the groundwork that has been laid for it by the President  who picked both the Minister of Police Affairs and the Minister of State for Defence from the Southwest. “This Federal Government sees the Southwest as very critical to the President’s chances of getting re-elected next year, and has thus turned it to a battleground. They are desperate to capture Ekiti and Osun, which they see as the road to the heart of the Southwest next year. That explains their desperation about the elections in the two states,” Mohammed noted.

    APC chieftains have alleged that Omisore goes about with thugs during his campaigns telling people “there is nothing you people can do because we have police and we have soldiers and we will show all of you APC supporters when we get to power. We are not begging you to vote, but we shall win.”

     

    Ogun APC crisis

     

    Observers have advised the APC to put its house in order in the Southwest, to ensure that it wards off the PDP’s ambition of staging a comeback in the region. Indications are that all is not well with the APC in Ogun and Oyo states. The leadership crises in the  chapters have polarised the party. The situation is similar to what happened to the PDP in the build up to 2011 general elections. The PDP went to the poll as a divided party and this was the factor that helped the APC to sweep the polls in the two states.

    The disagreement in Ogun State, for instance, is very critical and it may provide a leeway for the PDP to realise its ambition of regaining the control of the state. This is because the deep-seated animosity between Chief Olusegun Osoba, who is regarded as the APC leader in the state and Governor Ibikunle Amosun, has polarised the party. As such,  both camps do not see eye-to-eye. The fight is over the control of the party structure  and, unless this is addressed effectively, it has dire consequences for the ruling party in 2015. A chieftain of the APC in the state, who craved anonymity, said only a divine intervention can make the two factions  work together next year. He said the animosity started far back in 2003 when Amosun mobilised the PDP to uproot the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD) and Osoba, who was the governor, from the State House.

    The animosity between them was rekindled when both of them found themselves in the same party, prior to the 2011 general elections. A source said that the friction was evident during the preparation for the governorship primaries before that election. According to the source, the Osoba group initially rejected the choice of Amosun for the governorship. It took the intervention of eminent personalities and traditional rulers before Osoba could agree. Though Amosun emerged as the party’s gubernatorial candidate, but loyalists of the former governor were rewarded with the three senatorial seats, nine House of Representatives tickets and 23 out of 26 House of Assembly tickets. Besides, Osoba was also given the privilege of picking the running mate to Amosun.

    Shortly after Amosun’s inauguration, there was quarrel over the choice of commissioners and other members of the state executive council. The Osoba group alleged that the governor was planning to sideline those he met in the party. Amosun tried to appease the group by offering appointments to some stakeholders. The beneficiaries include: the former Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Muyiwa Oladipo, senatorial chairmen of the defunct ACN in Ogun West and Ogun East districts, Mr. Falilu Sabitu and Mr. Daniel Adejobi. Other loyalists of Osoba serving in Amosun’s government include Ayo Olubori, Olu Adeyemi, Chief Sam Aiyedogbon, Mufau Ajibola and Chief Poju Adeyemi. In addition, many were also appointed as special advisers, chairmen and members of Boards of parastatals and agencies.

    However, the governor’s move did not stop  the cry of marginalisation. The Osoba group felt short-changed during the last local government election. They alleged that they were not given enough chairmanship and councillorship slots. The sharing formula, according to them, was grossly lopsided in favour of Amosun and his supporters.

    This prompted pro-Osoba legislators to form a group known as “Mat’agba mole” (Don’t step on elder).  They claim that Osoba was not accorded his proper place in the scheme of things. On his part, the governor has always said that Osoba is his leader and that there is nothing going on in the party and government that he’s not aware of.

    Both camps have been trading blames. The Amosun group has faulted the steps taken by the aggrieved legislators. They queried their sincerity and motive towards the resolution of the crisis. The governor’s supporters have accused the Osoba group, particularly the legislators, of fanning the ember of disunity for personal gains and hiding under the name of the former governor.

    An  lawyer, Mr. Jide Ogunwale, expressed sadness over the turn of events.  He said the national leadership of the APC should handle the crisis with extra care. The leaders, he advised, should bring the warring factions to negotiation table for the peaceful resolution of the crisis, if the party wants to retain the state in 2015. Ogunwale warned against under rating the political influence of any group.

     

    Reconciliation in Oyo

     

    The problem of the APC in Oyo State is largely egocentric. Shortly after Governor Abiola Ajimobi was inaugurated in 2011, he was confronted with the problem of harmonising contending interests within the party.

    As the governorship primaries drew nearer in 2011, the camps within the party started to manifest.  Prior to the shadow election, a deep rancour had developed among the contenders. They are Ajimobi, Senator Femi Lanlehin, Dr Ismail Adewusi, Mr Kazeem Adedeji and Chief Soji Akanbi. At the Olubadan Stadium, Ibadan, the venue of the primary election, close allies were compelled to break into camps, as many party stalwarts openly and overtly identified with the contestants of their choice. At the end, Ajimobi was affirmed as the winner. But, Lanlehin and other contestants cried foul and alleged that the process was manipulated in favour of Ajimobi. That was the beginning of the no love-lost relationship between Ajimobi and his co-contestants.

    It took concerned party stalwarts led by the late Alhaji Lam Adesina time to pacify the aggrieved aspirants. Initially, the efforts to pacify them paid off, as some of them accepted party offers and gave peace a chance. There was relative peace in the party, which contributed to its victory at the poll.

    The party defeated the PDP  in the election. While Ajimobi emerged as the governor, Lanlehin was elected a senator.

    Later, crisis erupted in the party. The party leadership said the governor did not consult them while constituting his cabinet. The governor was accused of picking most of his commissioners from outside the party. Party members who claimed to have worked for the electoral victory of the governor staged a protest.

    Rather than abating, crisis has been festering, particularly between the governor and Lanlehin. Prior to 2011 governorship primaries and general elections, the relationship between them was very cordial. They were always seen together discussing how to improve the fortunes of their party in the elections.

    Party chieftains Chief Michael Koleoso, tried to broker truce between the governor and Lanlehin. All efforts were in vain.

    Ajimobi explained that Lanlehin and others are interested in his job.

     

    Conflicts

     

    Lanlehin denied having any break in relations with Ajimobi as a person, but admitted that he has an issue with him as the governor. His words: “The problem I have with Ajimobi is that he is not carrying stakeholders along in decision-making and formulation of policies for the state, which is at variance with the manifesto of the party. He runs the state with a few cabals, thereby isolating the majority of the stakeholders, and he doesn’t listen to advice in implementing policies that has to do with the lives of the people of the state.”

    To buttress his point, Lanlehin cited the massive demolition of shops in Ibadan and environs by the governor without providing alternatives for the traders. He said although Ajimobi gave urban renewal and beautification as his reason for demolition but he should know that such anti-people policies cannot stand. “The people are central to any development, so you cannot destroy their means of livelihood in the name of development,” he added.

    Lanlehin is not alone in detesting Ajimobi’s style of governance. The senator representing Oyo Central, Senator Ayoade Adeseun, has also complained against Ajimobi’s failure to carry along other stakeholders in the running of the  state. Lanlehin and Adeseun are the two senators representing the APC in the senate. The two of them have  left the party. Lanlehin has defected to the Accord Party, while Adeseun is said to be on his way to the PDP. Besides the two senators, there are other party leaders that are not happy with the governor and they are contemplating leaving the party.

    Analysts say it would be a herculean task for the APC to retain the state in 2015. To get back to reckoning, the governor, they say, must improve his relationship with the people and work harder on the membership drive. Such analysts say the governor stands a good chance of being re-elected in 2015, because of his good programmes.

     

    Lessons from Ekiti polls

     

    Many lessons could be learned from the  Ekiti election. According to observers, Fayose won the June 21 governorship election  not because of the profile of the party, but as a result of the relationship he had cultivated with the people over the years. The party had an easy ride to victory on Fayose’s political credentials. On the other hand, some believe Fayemi failed because of the elitist’s structure of his government and his inability to relate with the common people at the grassroots. According to them, the results of the election indicated that people at the grassroots rejected his government.

    Fayemi  built roads and embarked on urban renewal. but, he was disconnected from the masses. There was a general perception that his government was elitist and he didn’t do anything to correct that impression. Fayose exploited these factors, particularly because he could connect with the people in a unique way. In the eight years he was not in office, he never left Ekiti. He did not become a Lagos or Abuja politician and the people noted it.

    The party treated dissenting voices within its fold with disdain. As a result, pundits say the APC was a house divided against itself in the build up to the election.

    A civil society activist and convener of Nigerian Voters’ Assembly, Comrade Moshood Erubami, blamed the APC for taking the electorate for granted in Ekiti, by not properly mobolising the people to ensure that they carry out their civic responsibility of voting on election day. He said that  Aregbesola should learn from what happened in Ekiti. He said a situation whereby over 300,000 voters were disenfranchised because they could not present permanent voters’ cards on the day of election was a grievous mistake. He wondered how political parties were indifferent to the voters’ apathy towards collection of voting cards. He said in election a single vote is very important in deciding a winner. “I don’t know why the political parties could ignore 300,000 votes. It is unfortunate the party leaders failed to mobilise the electorate towards collecting the cards,” he added.

    The civil society activist advised  Aregbesola to ensure that all eligible voters collect their voters’ cards before the election. Erubami said that politicians must live in the heart of the people. “There is difference between politics of principle and politics of winning votes. They should create atmosphere of accessibility. They should run participatory government; that is to say, people should be part of government,” he said.

    Human rights activist George Afolabi noted that the PDP victory in Ekiti cannot  be ascribed to the personality of Fayose or his previous performance as governor, but to the federal might behind him. He advised the APC to throw its weight behind Aregbesola to ensure  victory. “The PDP has declared Ekiti and Osun governorship elections as a war. All APC governors should rally support for Aregbesola for the party to retain Osun,” he added.

     

     

  • Debt Management Office clears Osun of alleged N350b debt

    Debt Management Office clears Osun of alleged N350b debt

    •To introduce Sukuk to other parts of Nigeria

    Osun State is one of the best states in Nigeria with sustainable public debt management, the Director-General of Debt Management Office (DMO), Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, has said.

    Nwankwo spoke to reporters at MicCom Golf Hotel and Resort, Ada, Osun State during a three-day retreat for members of the House Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management.

    The DMO chief declared that Osun’s debt profile is a very sustainable one and healthy for its economic growth, describing the state’s alleged heavy debt burden as a mere propaganda and hoax.

    This has deflated the persistent claims by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Otunba Iyiola Omisore, who alleged that the Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration was indebted to the tune of over N350 billion.

    The former Head of Service under the Aregbesola administration, Elder Segun Akinwusi, had equally built and sustained his campaign for the governorship seat on the same allegation.

    The government had denied the allegation, insisting that only those ignorant of operations of global finance would agree that a bank could give a state or individual loans more than its capacity to pay both interest and the principal.

    But Nwankwo, who did not give figure on the state’s actual debt figure, explained that Osun needed to be encouraged in term of management of debt because it has not borrowed beyond its capacity.

    The DMO boss added that his office recognises Osun State as the first to take Sukuk.

    “By our plan to encourage the issuance of Sukuk in Nigeria, because we need to diversify the instrument in the bond market. We want to make sure that all segments of the society are captured in the bond market. There are some groups of people or individuals, who do not want to participate in ordinary bond because of interest.

    “DMO and others are working hard to introduce Sukuk in Nigeria. We are delighted that Osun took the initiative and helped in introducing it in Nigeria.”

  • Adeleke’s exit deflates Osun PDP

    Adeleke’s exit deflates Osun PDP

    In this piece, Erasmus Ikhide writes on the implications of former Governor Isiaka Adeleke’s defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    THE exit of Senator Isiaka Adeleke from the Osun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has dealt an unimaginable blow to the party’s bid to reclaim the state from the ruling APC, after nearly four years. From the outset, this has been an uphill task for the PDP, owning largely to its earlier anti-people policies that brought the people in direct collusion with excruciating poverty and looting of the state treasury.

    The first civilian governor, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, defected at the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, in Osogbo, the state capital. He implored the electorate not to cast their votes for the PDP candidate on  August 9.

    In the face of mounting rejection, the PDP is seems hauntingly lost in its braggart pastime to undone the electorate, feigns electability and hosts preeminently the banner of deserved victory. This is overt in several comments made by some of the oppositions’ media minders in response to Senator Isiaka Adeleke’s defection some days ago. They won’t concede that a major depletion has forlorn their rank. Adeleke is the most eminent in the PDP in his countryside as the first civilian governor of the state, but the oppositions would not have any of it, and preferred to cast shadows in the dial.

    Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi and Oluwole Oke saw the defection of  Adeleke, a governorship aspirant, as a development that would not affect the winning streak and the electoral victory of their party. The  PDP chairman, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, ruses Adeleke’s and PDP members defection as “those whose political relevance has waned and have been huge liabilities to the party.”

    Describing the decision of Adeleke as unfortunate, taking into recognition the quantum of benefits that had accrued to him since he joined the party,  they contended that it was laughable and amounted to ingratitude on his part to dump the party that made him politically. In separate press statements issued by their  media aides, Mr Ayo Aluko-Olokun and Mr.Yemi Giwa respectively, Olasunkanmi and Oke assured that the former governor’s exit cannot have any negative effect on the chances of the party at the election.

    Olasunkanmi, who is a former Minister for Youths, said: “We believe in that tenet of democracy, which guarantees every individual the right of association. The defector has taken a decision which he believes would best serve his interest best under this dispensation and we cannot condemn, abuse or commend him for it. It is his right.”

    “But, we wish to assure you that his exit would not diminish the chance of the PDP winning the August 9, governorship election. We shall strengthen our hold on Osun West Senatorial District, where he comes from. It is, however, unfortunate that a person that has benefitted so much, using the PDP platform, would jump ship despite all his repeated promises and pledges to vote and mobilise support for President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP”, he added.

    Reacting,  Oke remarked: “He is a pillar in PDP. I wish he stays and fight within the party. There is no party that is crisis free. I still hope that he would change his mind. If he doesn’t, I wish him well. It is a free world”. A check on the political intrigues that led to the exit of Senator Adeleke from the PDP and the thousands of followers that left with him defect the claims of Senator Rasheed Akinlabi Olasun-kanmi and Hon Oluwole Oke.

    Adeleke attested to that when he affirmed that he was asked by leaders of the PDP to contest the governorship  in Osun, but was thereafter betrayed and hounded. The first civilian governor  described the PDP as a platform that breeds and supports thuggery and violence.

    Adeleke, also a former senator, spoke in Osogbo, the Osun state capital, while leading thousands of his supporters and former members of the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Adeleke noted that with the alleged assault on him by the Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan, and the candidate of the PDP for the forthcoming governorship election in the state, Iyiola Omisore?, he and his followers were no longer safe in the PDP. The former governor claimed he was called upon by the leaders of the PDP to contest the governorship seat in Osun having realised that Mr. Omisore stood no chance against Governor Rauf Aregbe-sola.

    He said he was thereafter betrayed and hounded.

    “I am happy to be in the progressives,” Adeleke said. “I was a governor under the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which was a progressive party, I was fully involved in the struggle for June I2.

    “I was asked to come and vie for governorship that Omisore is not capable, I accepted, but a day to the congress I got to the hotel in Osogbo. The people I sent there were on the floor with guns pointed at their heads and I told the police that they are members of our party? from Ede.

    “I then moved towards the room where I met Sogo Agboola, Jelili Adesiyan, Iyiola Omisore, Gani Olaoluwa and others. As I was about explaining what happened outside to the Minister, he descended on me with blows. So also was Omisore and others.”

    He said he had nothing against the PDP, which once offered him a senatorial slot, but that he believed that if he should remain in the party, he would have to work for Mr. Omisore, saying working for Omisore would amount to working for a criminal.

    “They are a party breeding thugs,” he said. “How can a whole minister of the Federal Republic be boxing, I have nothing against PDP. I can’t support a violent person to go to the Government House.”

    Adeleke commended Aregbesola for what he termed enviable achievements recorded so far, said “I am here today to tell the world that I am making a U-turn from PDP to APC to prove that I am capable of advancing my political career and joining forces  with people of like minds, who believe in peace, progress and prosperity for our people and generations yet unborn.”

    The Vice Chairman of the PDP in Osun, who spoke on behalf of other decampees, Bashir Salam, said he and his colleagues were leaving the PDP because security is lacking in the party. “We are leaving the PDP because their is no security of lifes and property. In a party where the first civilian governor was assaulted without anything coming out of it, what do you expect to befall people like us”? “We have to look for change which we got in APC. Since the day I saw blood coming out from the mouth of one of our leaders we became unsafe and we have to leave,” Salam said.

    Aregbesola described the defection of Adeleke to the APC as someone who had chosen to come back to his rightful home, stressing that “I have told Adeleke long before now that his father, who was the Balogun of Ede did not join the conservatives while alive and that his people in Ede do not belong to the PDP”. “He has come back home”, he stated.

    In Yorubaland, we do not belong to the PDP. Their reign had failed to better the lots of the masses. I don’t want to talk much about the failures of the party. This is because some of them are still talking to us and they are coming”. “They (PDP) did not allow former Governor Oyinlola to perform when he was in government for almost eight years. No man of virtues would identify himself with the PDP, considering the misery, bad governance and failure they have caused Nigerians. We celebrated our democracy some days ago, what have we got to show for it”, Aregbesola queried.

    Aregbesola attributed all his Administration’s feats in the state to God without which his personal strives would have amounted to nothing. He admonished the people of the state against fighting the PDP, saying violence had become their stock in trade. The governor said, “What will Adeleke want to gain from saying they want to kill him. He has been in the party for long. If we are not home with that, have we forgotten about the  people killed in Ife?

    As the electioneering gain tractions, there is absolute certainty that the people of Osun have already made up their minds on the direction they aspire the governance of the state to follow. In less than three months from now, that aspiration will give way to reality when they cast  their voters for continuous development, instead of returning the state to long forgotten era of political thuggery and bloodletting. That is what a vote for the PDP can offer the people.

  • Explosion in Osun

    Explosion in Osun

    THE ancient city of Ile-Ife in Osun State witnessed an explosion suspected to be bomb yesterday.

    It was gathered that one of two explosive devices planted in two strategic locations at Agbedegbede area of the town exploded in the early hours of the day.

    But no casualty was reported, but property worth millions of naira was destroyed.

    Investigation revealed that the residents woke up around 5.00a.m to the deafening sound of the explosion.

    A house near where one of the explosive devices detonated was badly damaged.

    Police from the State Police Command’s anti-bomb unit were said to have detonated the second device.

    Confirming the incident in a telephone call, the Police Commissioner Mr. Ibrahim Maishanu said the explosion was minor.

    According to him, his command would reinforce security in all parts of the state, assuring all residents to go about their activities peacefully.

    Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Sunday Akere, condemned the explosion.

    Akere, who described the explosion as unfortunate, urged the people to remain calm, saying that the government would not allow any threat to the state’s peace.

    Later in the day, Maishanu visited the explosion’s scene.

    Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Sunday Akere has condemned the explosion on behalf of the state government.

    Akere, who described the explosion as unfortunate, urged the people to remain calm, saying that the government would not allow any threat to the state’s peace.