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By Mallam Olawale Rasheed
Intellectual pursuit and excellence are traditionally built on empirical facts. When facts are deliberately twisted to achieve partisan goals, the public, the citizenry, immediately identifies intellectual deceit and a prelude to a likely jaundiced academic thesis.
Applied to the public space and as facts are sacred, governance analysis from dispassionate analysts, uninjured commentators and unemotional observers convinced Dr Deji Adeleke, the patriarch of the Adeleke dynasty, that his brother, Governor Ademola Adeleke, is delivering to his expectations and that of the voting public. That same view is held by many Nigerians.
A reading of some articles, including one by a journalist, Ismail Omipidan, raises the imperative of fact checks. I will first submit that the writer’s justification for calling out Dr Deji Adeleke is flawed and based on false citations as all the four points raised are based on equally false narratives promoted by the opposition. And I will dissect the issues one by one.
First is the Akoda-Ede road, which he claimed was awarded prior to the commencement of the multi-billion naira infra programme. We repeat with verifiable facts that this assertion is false. The Akoda Road was only undergoing pothole patching under the 100-day programme before its inclusion in the infra programme. It must be stressed that the road was advertised in a Nigerian Tribune publication of August 2023, which clearly fault the jaundice postulation of Mr. Omipidan.
As for the timing of project completion, the infra plan was unveiled in December, completion date is December 2024. And as for quality of work, the contractor has the next five months to complete its work. Hence, any judgment on work quality is mere political propaganda, especially when it is coming from someone with no background in engineering to be able to make a technical assessment.
The writer and the opposition may want to know that Oke Fia, Lameco, and other infra projects are going ahead as planned under strict monitoring and evaluation and with the best of quality assurance.
Equally, a debunked lie now repeated with sugar coat is the allegation that the Governor budgeted Fifteen Billion Naira for his office and only three billion naira for the agriculture sector with only One Hundred and Eighty Million Naira disbursement. The public is fully aware that the Governor’s Office has several agencies, including the service-wide general services office. Hence, the said fund is not in any way meant directly for Mr Governor. Even at that, the total allocation for that unit is less than half of what purveyors of lies are dishing out
Relatedly, the agricultural sector is receiving full attention than the opposition would want to acknowledge. Under the administration that the writer served, agriculture received the most embarrassing funding, to the point that less than N10m was spent in the entire sector outside payment of salary in one fiscal year.
Under the Adeleke administration, tractorization, access to fertilizers, agropreneurs’ Incubation programmes, food security sub-sectoral initiatives, revival of farm settlements, cashew and cocoa seedlings project among others are special programmes the administration is implementing within the agricultural sector. It is a lie that only N180 million has so far been released to the agricultural sector.
For the teachers’ recruitment and Imole Youth Corps, this administration is a government with a focus on programme sustainability and seamless delivery. With minimum wage matters being sorted out and with all budgetary questions resolved, the administration is fully ready for implementation. Governance is a process, a fact known to even the unlettered.
Another disgraceful lie is allegations of delay in sharing palliatives from the Federal Government. The first phase of the rice palliative was handled by a non-governmental committee, and the second phase was shared across various interest groups alongside those rice equally purchased by the state government. In fact, the writer’s party received from the palliatives disbursement by the Adeleke administration, and we dare him to fault this assertion with fact.
For the Two Billion Naira palliative, it was clearly pointed out that it was deployed on additional food items, transport sector, and wage awards with the state government adding further funding. The total cost of the wage award expended by this government was Three Billion naira at Ten Thousand Naira for pensioners and Fifteen Thousand Naira for workers for six months, far above what was received from the Federal Government. If the writer has forgotten, Osun people still remember how palliatives were hoarded under the Oyetola administration and the public had to publicly loot the warehouse. Governor Adeleke has no such records, and the public can attest to it.
Having clearly proven that all the reasons adduced by the writer for his calling out Dr Deji Adeleke are baseless, unfounded and mere concortions, let me proceed to list why the Pacific Holdings Chairman is proud of his brother, Governor Adeleke. First is the rescuing of Osun workers from bad governance, neglect, and wicked wielding of state powers. From November 2022 till date, Governor Adeleke has embarked on a public sector reforms which ensure re-professionalisation of the public service, regular promotion and cash backing of promotions, payment of pensions and pension bonds, ongoing payment of half salaries owed Osun workers among many others.
For restoring normalcy and humane treatment to the public service as applauded by the public servants and their unions. It is not only Dr Deji Adeleke that is proud of his brother but the entire Osun people minus the toxic opposition appreciate the state leadership.
Another reason has to do with the silent revolution within the Osun health sector. As of today, close to 100 primary health care centres have been rehabilitated with direct provision of water and solar light. Across the state, over 150 health care centres are being built, with many already completed. Selected General Hospitals are slated for upgrades while general recruitment of health workers is in the pipeline. Over 29,000 pensioners have been enrolled for free health insurance. The Governor is prioritizing preventive health care policy by strengthening access to health care for the majority of Osun residents. As Governor, Adeleke did not squander the World Bank $20.5 million dollar health care rehabilitation initiative as witnessed under the previous APC government, Dr Deji and Osun people are happy and praised God that “Demola ko ba oju wa je”.
Who will not be happy with a responsive government and Governor who attended to neglected areas? The Muslim community in Osun has no Hajj camp, the only state without one in the South West. Governor Adeleke is building one for them. Osun State Broadcasting Service was left to die. Governor Adeleke procured state of the art transmitters for the stations. University of Ilesa was an audio institution when Mr. Governor Adeleke took over. He gave the institution a take-off grant, got almost 40 programmes accredited, and ordered ongoing reconstruction of the university internal roads. Ijesa leaders were elated.
Several abandoned projects within the Osun State University were completed with new ones added. The Vice-Chancellor inherited from the Oyetola government attested to Governor Adeleke’s excellent service delivery.
A Governor who initiated and is implementing a multi-sectoral, multi-billion naira infra plan is the doyen of friends and foes. Luckily, no true expert will deny the close link between good infrastructure and economic development. Seamless connectivity is at the heart of economic buoyancy. In recognition of that fact, Osun has been transformed into a huge construction site with all parts of the state tasting the delivery of good governance.
In reality, the Adeleke dynasty has every reason to thank God and the Osun people because an 18-month record has surpassed the four year tenure of some people. The public knows the leader who failed at home and shockingly away, I mean at the national level.
For Dr Deji Adedeji and the entire Adeleke family, Mr Governor is a symbol of pride.
The public are aware of when someone messed up his uncle due to dismal performance as a state Governor. Even the uncle at Ajegunle on a campaign trail noted the bad show. When a review of members of the Federal Executive Council was done, bad ratings were returned to the public space. The uncle cannot but be unimpressed.
For Governor Adeleke, his approval rating remains above 80 percent. Someone throughout his four year tenure, has less than 30 percent approval rating.
Even President Bola Tinubu loves Imole.
Billionaire father of a billionaire, Dr Deji Adeleke, is proud of his brother, Governor Adeleke, for achieving such significant delivery within just 18 months. So at the convocation, the Chancellor for the Adeleke University will speak of audacity of hope, of a vision that is becoming a reality, of an aspiration of a new Osun piloted by his brother.
● Mallam Olawale Rasheed, Special Adviser to Governor Adeleke, writes from Osogbo.
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