By Ayodele Oni
The romance between former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, and Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke seems to have hit the rock, going by the ongoing altercations between both men.
Aregbesola had been linked Governor Adeleke who in turn extended political patronage to some followers of the former minister at the start of his administration.
The former Minister, who is now the Secretary of African Democratic Congress, (ADC) which is the new party embraced by leaders of the coalition, had first threatened to remove Adeleke from office during next election.
Adeleke who reacted to threats by Aregbesola to remove him from office in 2026, reminded the former Governor that Osun is still suffering from the inhumane maladministration he inflicted on the state while in office.
In a statement issued on Monday in Osogbo, Governor Adeleke through his Spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, castigated the former Governor as “a man who left a legacy of huge state debt, half salary, scam tablets and several fanciful, inflated, uncompleted projects”, describing his tenure as “the worst in Osun history.”
“The empty boast of Mr Aregbesola about 2026 is a symptom of a troubled mind who sees wrong vision, who is battling his benefactor and who is haunted by the pains and suffering he inflicted on millions of Osun people through his evil policies and programmes.
“A man who should be remorseful and tender public apologies for his years of maladministration has the audacity to threaten Governor Adeleke, who is clearing the mess left behind by Mr Aregbesola after his eight years of anti-people, thoughtless leadership.
“Mr Aregbesola’s wickedness against workers, public servants, and Osun people knows no bounds while he wielded state power.
“A man who introduced half salary, misapplied contributory state pension fund and misused state cooperative deductions fund should be ashamed of his temerity to attack a Governor who is now paying up the half salary affliction, clearing the unjustified debt and rehabilitating brutalised Osun workers.
“The Adeleke administration has paid 28 months out of the half salary left behind by Mr Aregbesola. The present administration has paid close to 60 billion naira in pension debt, a legacy of this same Aregbesola.
“Pensioners and workers generally are not praying for a return to the evil days of a bad administrator who left his state in ruin after eight years.
“Within less than three years, Governor Adeleke has surpassed government delivery of the eight years of Mr Aregbesola without borrowing a kobo for infrastructure projects. The current administration has reduced Osun debt left by Mr Aregbesola by 40 percent as confirmed by the Debt Management Office.
“Mr Aregbesola is invited to note that Governor Adeleke has constructed about 200 Kilometers of roads, rehabilitated over 200 schools and health centers, placed over 30, 000 pensioners on free health insurance care, provided critical medical surgeries to over 60,000 Osun residents, completed several abandoned projects at Osun State University, made University of Ilesa a reality among several others.
“If Mr Aregbesola is to accuse Governor Adeleke of non-performance, we await his review of the dualization of palace to brewery junction at Ilesa which he failed to achieve while in office. He should check out the flyover projects at Ile Ife and Osogbo and the dualization projects ongoing at Iwo among others.
“Osun people know their present and past Governors. Our people are smart enough to know that the worst era for Osun state is that of Mr Aregbesola, under whom many pensioners lost their lives, thousands of lives were disrupted, and the state plunged into unsustainable debt that is still hurting the state till date. No voter in Osun is ready for a return to the dark days.”
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