I read the views of the former Ag. chairman of the defunct Action Congress in a national newspaper a few days ago. In it, the former chairman made some remarks, which are far from being true. To me, most of his views were attempts to justify the existence of the splinter group, The Osun Progressives, in the APC in Osun State. If in fact there is a problem in Osun APC, the question to ask is who or what created it. The events in the political terrain in Osun State in the last 15 years or so are known to the indigenes of the state and the people cannot be deceived with outright lies and misinterpretations. The emergence of the immediate past governor of Osun State as the gubernatorial candidate of his party marked the start of some dialectics which are still playing today. When the immediate past governor of Osun State started the battle to retrieve his “stolen mandate”, thearrow head was what he called Oranmiyan. This concept spread in Osun State like wild fire, so much that as at the time the court declared him as the rightful winner of the 2011 election, “Oranmiyan” had a cult-like following in Osun State.
When the governor assumed office, most of his appointees at all levels were members and his associates from ‘Oranmiyan’. The party was virtually sidelined. For the first few months of the Administration, the ‘Oranmiyan’ was being used to run the affairs of the state. This led to the situation where most of the appointees of the governor were Osun State “foreign” indigenes i.e. Osun State indigenes residing outside the state and even non-indigenes. All the same, the governor still continued to enjoy the cult-like following and his party was thus able to clear all the electoral positions in the first election held soon after he came on board. However, as the administration’s policies started to unfold people were progressively realising its shortcomings and soon began to question the sincerity of the government in fostering the best interest of the state. Credit must be given to the governor for his fantastic propaganda machinery which sustained his popularity for quite a while. All the same, the governor soon ran into troubled waters when it became apparent that he did not really have the best interest of the State in mind. This became more and more discernible as he progressed to amass huge debts with which he embarked on some white elephant projects which neglecting the well-being of the citizens of the State, particularly public workers. Things got to the lowest ebb for him when he could no longer pay workers’ salaries as and when due which eventually forced him to be paying half salaries to them. For this, he earned the derisive appellation of “Governor AFUSA”.
By the time he was seeking reelection, his popularity has sunk so low that he had to struggle to pay backlog of workers’ salaries etc. alongside some desperate actions to survive. All the same, his party managed to win the election but was not able to enjoy all-round victory as in the previous election. His second term in office glaringly revealed his weaknesses. With all these, his popularity and that of his party were nose-diving at an alarming rate and were at the lowest ebb by the time elections were held in 2018. It is now history that APC narrowly won that election after a re-run while the victory was achieved through capitulations to erstwhile opponents and concerted efforts of many big-wigs of the party who had to relocate to Osun State. The fact that the incumbent governor even came second in the first round of election was a big plus for him as he was pilloried during the electioneering campaigns, particularly during the famous debate by the candidates, with the shortcomings of the previous government as if he was the Chief Executive on whose table the buck stopped. In essence, in that election, people voted against the former governor and not his party. The former chairman was simply being economical with the truth. Due to numerous amorphous groups created by the former governor, the party was sidelined and not connected to the grass roots. The last election was, therefore, almost lost because of protest votes against the former governor. Things were so bad that the former governor could not even deliver his constituency.
Since the present governor assumed office, he has spent considerable time defending the mistakes and inadequacies’ of the former administrator while steps had to be taken to cancel some unpopular actions of the previous government.Also, the present party composition is working hard to sell the government to the grass roots as attested to by the former chairman as per the activities of Hon. Bosun Oyintiloye. If not for the mis-governance of the last administration, and the perceived hostility to the present government because of its linkage to the former government, the approval rating of the present governor would have being sky-high. Thus, the party has enormous to do in bringing the good Government policies and programmes to the electorate. The members of “TOP” will do well not to constitute a distraction to the present administration. All hands must, therefore, be on deck because the opposition is lurking to explore any gap.
It is very gratifying that, the incumbent governor is now coming into his strides and more and more people are beginning to appreciate this hardworking, urbane, listening, silent and great achiever. Although, he has not been able to refund the shortfalls of the ’AFUSA’ era, he has succeeded in paying full workers’ salaries and pensions as and when due. It is common knowledge that he inherited a humongous debt which he has to be servicing and people are even wondering how he had been able to achieve so much in the face of daunting financial challenges. He has shown himself as a financial guru and astute administrator as he steadily moves Osun State forward on all fronts. He is no doubt a breath of fresh air.
- Adetunji writes in from Ile-Ife, Osun State.
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