At the twilight of the past administration of the former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, it appeared that his government lacked imagination and creativity.
The clamour to railroad him out of office became popular and both old and young had no option than to vote him out. The accusations against him included financial recklessness and lack of vision.
Though these cannot be far from the truth, Oyinlola had embarked on the construction of six stadia in Osun State with borrowed funds. It was clear to all that the projects were ill-conceived, unnecessary and immaterial at the time. Besides, the projects were funded with skyrocketed interest rate loan from high street banks, making its justification difficult and successfully plunged the state into more debts.
These suboptimal setting of priorities pitched the citizens of the state against his administration. The people were convinced that time had come to drive the Okuku Prince out of Bola Ige House. Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola came in as the next governor of the state, in his ingenuity; he invented people-oriented programmes among which are O’YES, O’MEAL, etc. There was euphoria, excitement filled the atmosphere, hope rose, songs changed, trust and reliance became the new words in the state of the “Living Spring”. In sincerity, the projects are laudable, credible and meritorious. They went far in employment generation and human development, raised the living standard and enhanced the economy of Osun State.
The issue with Aregbesola’s administration is his disdain and perceived hatred for the institution that brought him to fame – democracy. Prior to his ascension, the state had operational and functional third tier government operated within the tenets of democracy, each local government had a democratically elected chairman and vice chairman coupled with legislative officials that checked the excesses of the executive. No sooner had they rounded up their tenure, the governor quickly appointed his associates as administrators across the 30 local government areas of the state.
The greatest setback to the citizenry of the state is that since the assumption, local government has become redundant and in some cases turned to cash offices where staffs turned up for monthly salary collection.
As a supporter of his revolutionary approach to “fix” the state, I am not here to condemn him; at least he has several landmark achievements in the state though some are wrapped in propaganda. It is obvious, the state is in an economic mess, but this is not the topic today. The emphasis here is the evil that has been done by suppressing the state’s local government institution.
This second term should be used to rebrand his name by organising elections to usher in democratic governance that will enhance grassroots growth. It is time for us to jettison our political alignments for national development and prevail on Governor Rauf Aregbesola to reconsider his stand on this institution that is far closer to the people.
