Odesanya

‘Why Aregbesola’ll win again’

Michael Odesanya is the Senior Special Assistant on Youth, Sports and Special Needs to Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State. In this interview with Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, he spoke on the forthcoming governorship election in the state and gave reasons why Aregbesola will be re-elected by the people of the state.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appears to be in disarray in recent times. What do you think is responsible for this?

Once a party is rejected by the people, everything will start going wrong with it. Nigerians have rejected the PDP. And why shouldn’t we reject them? Since 1999 till date, what are the things you can call the achievements of PDP governments anywhere in the country?

Take a look at the federal governments they ran for fourteen years. Electricity is not stable. They budget billions for the power sector every year. The country’s economy cannot grow without electricity. In the area of job creation, the PDP administration is not doing anything meaningful to address rising unemployment in the country.

The crime rate is on the increase, leading to frequent loss of lives and properties, especially in the Northern part of the country. Our roads have become death-traps, in spite of trillions being voted for the transport sector yearly. The menace of corruption is also there. Even when they are caught stealing, they get clean bills of health at the end of the day.

Here in Osun State, is the PDP still on ground?

I don’t want to waste my time talking about a party that is no more in existence here. The PDP is no more a party of note in Osun. With his sterling performance, Aregbesola sent PDP packing in Osun.

But the party says it will return to Government House this year?

Wishful thinking by a few dreamers I would say. How will they achieve that? Who will vote for them? What are they offering the people? What was their achievement while in office? They failed the people of Osun State. They raped the state carelessly and now want a return ticket to the Government House. Isn’t that funny?

The people will compare their seven and a half years in government with Aregbesola’s four years when it is time to vote. In all facets and departments of government, you cannot compare Aregbesola’s few years with the seven and half years of his predecessor.

Today in Osun, visit any local government, you will see one project or the other going on. There are innovations he brought to governance when he came in. One of them is the monthly exercise tagged ‘Walk to Live’ whereby the governor walks about six kilometres with the people. This simply is a test of popularity and acceptance. If the generality of the people in a local government do not accept a leader, how can he walk in their midst? Aregbesola is doing this every month. The Agba Osun programme is another innovation. Monthly stipends to our elderly and others have their medical bills defrayed. Besides, when he came on board, within the first 100 days in office, he employed 20,000 youths under the OYES Scheme. Another 20,000 has been employed. Again, there is government’s intervention in agriculture such as in arable crops like cocoyam, cassava, plantain, fishery, honey and poultry.

So you are saying Aregbesola will be re-elected for another term?

The chance of Governor Aregbesola in winning the polls is very bright. The beautiful work he’s doing in the state is already campaigning for him. For example, since the creation of the state over 22 years ago, apart from Baba Chief Bisi Akande, there is no other governor that has ever done what Aregbesola did so far. We have seen the woeful performance of his immediate predecessor. In fact, Aregbesola’s achievement is 10 times of the performance of the immediate past government which was in power for nearly eight years in the state.

In the area of road construction, there is no area in the state that Aregbesola has not touched. Talking of agriculture, he has turned the state to the food basket of the nation through his various agricultural policies, giving out loans and farm implements to farmers, sending thousands of youths to China and Germany to go and learn how to farm in a large scale and so on. In the area of employment generation, within his first 100 days in office, he recruited 20,000 youths under the scheme called OYES. He has also recruited the second batch of youths, making 40,000.

So, with all these achievements and many more, I believe Aregbesola will defeat all his opponents hands down in the 2014 governorship polls in the state.

But are you sure other people, especially non-politicians and members of the opposition, share your view on the governor’s performance?

I will answer your question by recounting what two prominent persons said recently about the government in Osun. The first is the Orangun of Ila Orangun, a frontline traditional ruler here in Osun State. The respected monarch said when he was coming from Ila to Osogbo recently, it took him less than forty minutes to reach Osogbo due to the good road networks that are being built by Aregbesola’s government.

He went ahead to say the government of Aregbesola has performed creditably well in all sectors of the economy. According to him, there has been peace in the state, economy is booming, infrastructural works are going on everywhere, schools are being built, hospitals are being rehabilitated, fantastic and qualitative road networks everywhere, youths are being employed.

He added that these sterling performances are the reasons all the traditional rulers today in the state are supporting the governor and saying the works must continue. He said Aregbesola must be re-elected.

Also, the British Deputy High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr. Peter Carter, recently visited the state and described Osun State as peaceful and viable for investors and investments. The envoy, who was on a business visit to the state during a courtesy call on the governor, lauded the commitment of Aregbesola on education, economy and infrastructure development. He specifically said Aregbesola has done creditably well in terms of infrastructure development, which according to him, has attracted both local and international investors to the state.

So, what these two people said will tell you what the public feel about Aregbesola.

But why are the governor’s critics reluctant to agree that he has performed?

They will not because they are political critics. They are not objective critics.