Oyetola will return as governor of Osun — Akere

In this interview with Yinka Kolawole, Sunday Akere, director of operations for the All Progressives Congress in Osun state, discusses current political happenings in the state of the living spring and predicts that former governor Adegboyega Oyetola would take office again to lead the state.

Adegboyega Oyetola, the former governor of Osun state, just departed the stage, and the general consensus is that because he is no longer in the position of leadership, the APC may not survive and perhaps perish if he does not return as governor of the state. What do you think about this?

A forest is not created by one tree. In fact, Governor Oyetola moved to the side. Because I am aware that we will return to lead the state a second time, I want to use the expression “step aside.” One thing we should be aware of is that, despite the fact that the governor is the party’s head, the party is well-organized not just at the state level but also at the local and ward levels.

We had our congresses in July and October of last year, during which we chose the party’s officials for a four-year term. As of right now, they have only been in office for roughly a year, but they still have three years left to serve.

The problems are obvious; but, I want to reassure us that in Osun State, the governor and the leader, Adegegboga Oyetola, would not permit the party to fall apart while the governor is still in office.

The House of Assembly’s organisational structure is under our control at least for the next six months, and for the time being, local government structure is a subject of lawsuit.

We are confident in the party’s management at the ward, municipal, and state levels. Elections are scheduled for February of the next year, which is just over three months away.

There are procedures in place to make sure that the whole party family is there, even if the party leadership is not. The 38 candidates we have here in Osun won’t sit back and let the party fall apart. Thirty-eight candidates each for the House of Assembly, the House of Representatives, and the Senate are working hard in their respective districts to keep the party strong, unified, and one.

When he was in office, did you think former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola was credible?

I sincerely appreciate it. It is really regrettable that the current government is elevating unimportant topics that should never be discussed.

I’ll give you two instances from the governor’s lounge in Osogbo. On November 19, more than a week before the conclusion of his first term, the governor ceased sleeping there. It is known that two SSS representatives from the protocol department visited the governor’s lounge and the presidential lounge on the day before the new governor took office, which was on the 26th, to do an inventory of everything that was present.

After the new Governor was inaugurated, there was no problem with looting. On that Sunday, November 27, 2022, they had their celebration in the government building.

They didn’t protest about the looting as it was happening; instead, it was probably after they had finished their party or something similar that they realised how dirty everything was. It is regrettable.

Oyetola is a man of honour who was already wealthy before he was appointed Chief of Staff. Before the second term election on July 16, Oyetola even remarked that the construction of the Governor’s lounge was unsuitable for a governor. He then ordered that the whole location be reconstructed, which was carried out.

Unfortunately, it appears that the present administration has no plans or projects that they would want to implement. They are attempting to find ways to disparage the previous administration in an effort to win the public’s sympathy, but sadly, their strategy has backfired.

Nothing they say will convince people that Oyetola, who left the government with over 14 billion naira in cash, who managed the states’ affairs for four years without borrowing a kobo, who paid over N97 billion of the debt left by his predecessor, Rauf Aregbesola, will now be the one robbing government lounges.

They need to take a good look in the mirror because I am aware that anytime there is a change in administration, there are certain to be those people who want to exploit the situation and make off with everything they can. Nobody removed anything from the lounge, including Oyetola and his deputy.

The persons present should examine themselves and consider if the people who took over had copies of the pictures of what was left behind. The individuals present should examine themselves and consider whether they are the ones who took control and may even own copies of the inventory listing what is still in the Government House. When Oyetola left on November 26, how will inventory be taken? Additionally, you celebrated there on the 27th, and now you can say whatever you want. It is sad.

Within a week after taking office as governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke made a commitment to excellent administration and assuring the people of the state that “there is light today.” Do you perceive him exercising sound leadership?

Unfortunately, having a well-written and documented manifesto outlining your plans for taking office when you are applying for a position of power like governor is required of you. You’ll notice that it’s bad that the new governor is now instructing the transition team that they should provide him a manifesto of what he’s going to run for his first 100 days, which is to tell you that he has nothing on the ground before, after it was claimed that he had won the election.

I don’t see the government offering excellent governance, except from what they are now doing, which I know is only intended to win favour. And it is undeniable that throughout the discussions leading up to the election, he pledged to represent the interests of public employees and to pay the wages that Rauf Aregbesola’s administration had not yet paid.

Despite the fact that the salary for November was signed on the 18th by the former governor Adegboyega Oyetola, who left office on the 26th, the Accountant General and other employees refused to pay him until we were already in the middle of December. This means that more than 70% of civil servants still have not received their pay for the month. They should now explain to us if the funds necessary to pay the salary were still in the government’s accounts, as well as how they used the N14 billion that the Oyetola administration left aside.

Do you foresee breakdown of law and order in the state?

It’s not even a matter of foreseeing if you are highly aware of what is going on in town. As the inauguration was taking place at the stadium on November 27, PDP thugs went to the town of Oke-Fia and attacked individuals with machetes, strewing everything everywhere as they walked through the village.

As of the now, there are barely any local governments in the state that are untouched by the effects of PDP thuggery, intimidation, harassment, and murder.

An APC leader has been chased out of town by PDP thugs for more than three or four days, according to a party member who arrived here yesterday from Atakumosa West.

They requested that the previous commissioner of police be sent outside of the state because the guy did not let them do what they wanted to be doing, but only because they were uncomfortable and knew what they wanted to do.

When our House of Representatives candidate in my local government, Boluwaduro Local Government, visited the Otan Ayegaju local government headquarters to get to know the party members in ward ll over the weekend, PDP thugs got there and began terrorising the locals. One of the party women’s hands was broken when they macheted them. Atakumosa West is also carrying out the same action. Threatening to kill them, they drove APC members from the town. They act in the same manner everywhere.

No one has a monopoly on violence, but we think that we are Omoluabi, therefore we are merely pleading with the state’s founding fathers to order them to order.

We think that this is our state, and everyone who understands that it is theirs will not want evil or a destroyer to come in and do it harm. We are asking for their assistance in urging them to remain respectful because of this.

They desire power and already possess it, therefore we are interested in how they intend to manage state matters so that citizens would experience the effects of their rule rather than through torturing, intimidating, harassing, beating, or killing individuals. We want them to provide the state’s citizens with positive democratic dividends rather than unleash fear on those who have been soaking up the tranquilly that has been in place for so long.

We want them to pay the salaries of the people that lobbied and campaigned for them. Oyetola didn’t owe a payment for four years, but now we pay wages on time each month as well as pensions, gratuities, and other obligations.

Oyetola never borrowed any money, thus he inherited the obligations. He made it quite plain in his hand-over notes that he had been able to repay more than N97 billion of the loans he had inherited during the previous four years, and the documents are there to prove it. If you are now claiming that N14 billion isn’t in an account and that we have documents showing where the money is, then they should address the core of governance and quit causing needless commotion.

Executive orders are only used under military rule, thus it is bizarre to suggest that in a democracy like the one we have in Osun, executive orders will be used to administer the government. You start causing crises in towns where obas have been in place for weeks without any issues, for goodness sake, because of politics.

This is not the first time that the administration has changed; in 2003, just four days before Chief Bisi Akande’s term was about to expire, he installed Orangun of Ila. The administration is a continuity; what the governor started and what he couldn’t finish, you continue from there. Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola never suggested that they lock the palace of Orangun of Ila or have him removed. He also never suggested that they start playing political games with things.

It’s just politics when they claim that the Governor Oyetola government only installed three Obas from July 17 and November 2022.

We kindly request that they refrain from interjecting politics into the operations of the State’s established institutions.