From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
The National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Ajibola Basiru and the spokesperson to Governor Ademola Adeleke, Olawale Rasheed, have tackled each other over what the APC described as poor governance in the state.
Basiru, in a statement yesterday, condemned Adeleke’s refusal to take correction, saying the governor was used to demanding praise every time.
He vowed that he would continue to give useful advice because whatever happens to the people of Osun also affects him, describing the collapse of roads some days after inauguration as a disgrace.
He said: “The reaction of Adeleke’s aide is yet another sad example of the administration’s inability to engage in constructive discourse. Instead of addressing clear failures, the government continues its descent into baseless abuse, theatrical name-calling and hollow propaganda.
“It is important to remind the Adeleke administration that governance is not about trading insults but about responding to accountability with facts. A government that has failed across critical sectors cannot hide behind slogans and solar lights that barely last a week.
“While the administration boasts of a 40 percent debt reduction, it conveniently hides the fact that Osun’s federal allocation has increased by over 300 percent. What the Adeleke government claims as financial discipline is simply the benefit of increased federal oil receipts, not strategic fiscal management and discipline.
“Governor Adeleke has denied widespread reports of teachers’ disengagement since he assumed office. Why did Adeleke sack about 5000 teachers employed by his predecessor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola? Two and a half years later, why has he not engaged them again?
“The road commissioned with media fanfare was washed away within two days, a clear indictment on the substandard quality that defines this administration’s projects. The recurring cases of solar panel poles breaking within weeks and nonexistent borehole projects across wards is a testament to how little value is placed on durability and transparency.
But, Rasheed accused the APC secretary of deploying fake news as a tool to attack the state government.
He said: “We put it to the opposition scribe that Governor Adeleke never sacked any teacher or health worker. The former administration, a few weeks to its exit from office, injected the APC sympathisers as teachers and health workers as a trap to destabilise the incoming government. Those disengaged were never staff of the Osun State Government.
“We further submit that the road network around Oke Fia Bridge is ongoing and it is a pitiable lie from a propagandist to accuse the administration of digging holes under the bridge.
“The scribe is invited to note that the Adeleke administration has a three pronged water sector agenda, which include short term, medium term and long term plans. They are all simultaneously under implementation.
“On agriculture, the scribe cannot deny that from 2015 to 2022, Osun purchased no single tractor. The Adeleke administration has acquired and deployed 31 tractors to farmlands in the first phase of its farm mechanisation agenda,” Rasheed said.
He denied the scribe’s submission that the administration always responds to criticism with abuse and insults, asking, “what is abusive about stating the facts such as Governor Adeleke tarring the road leading to the scribe’s house at Osogbo.”