The opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, has knocked the administration of Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke for allegedly having nothing to show as achievements in its first year in office.
In its overview of the administration’s performance in the past one year, the local chapter of the party described the Adeleke-led Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, administration as the ‘worst’ in the history of the state.
It alleged that there is nothing tangible to showcase the seriousness of the man at the helm of affairs in the state in the last one year of his inauguration.
Making this assessment on Monday, the state APC chairman, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, in a statement issued by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi, said the state has never had it so bad.
He alleged that right from day one in the life of his administration, Adeleke has shown that he was out on a vindictive mission against the opposition APC as he needlessly reversed some of the policies of his predecessor, former Governor Gboyega Oyetola who is now the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy.
According to the statement: “Below are some of the infractions committed by Governor Adeleke within the past year of his administration:
“In the health sector, 200 workers were sacked on his assumption of office; he recruited health workers without the needed advertisement;
the recruited workers were sacked again by him, thereby wasting the meager resources of the state.
“It is on record that Adeleke plundered and bastardized the education sector by:
• Increasing WAEC fee from N18, 000 to N37, 000 per student;
• Sacking the Rector of Osun State Polytechnic, Iree without due process and replacing him with his unqualified kinsman, Kehinde Alabi;
• Interrupting the academic activities at the Osun State Polytechnic, Iree on account of his unwholesome policy;
• Reducing subventions due to tertiary institutions like Osun State College of Technology, Esa-Oke; Osun State University, etc.
• Increasing the school fees of UNIOSUN students beyond the affordability of their parents;
• Sacking the management of Ilesa University without due process;
• Sacking primary and secondary school teachers unduly.
‘In the area of the Local Government Administration, Adeleke’s performance was abysmally low as it cannot be forgotten how he sacked 28 traditional rulers without due process and the elected local government chairmen illegally and replaced them with appointed caretaker members.
“In the area of Budget and Finance, under Governor Adeleke, extra-budgetary spending since November last year without the approval of State Assembly has been the practice of his government; appropriation of state resources without budget approval from the state house of assembly; immoral allocation of N10billion to his office in the Supplementary Budget to take care of his comfort and expensive lifestyle; reduction of the budgetary allocations of key MDAs ( Education, health, UNIOSUN, Youths and Sports, Rural Development, Water Corporation, etc) in order to accommodate budget for the Office of the Governor and running of the administration without cabinet meeting.
“Adeleke has also failed to honour his campaign promises of clearing of a backlog of salaries of the government workers within 100 days in office; lacking accountability in the management of state resources; awarding revenue collection contract to friends and cronies; inability to block leakages; failure to account for over N130billion revenue accrued to the state in the last 12 months; mismanagement of N9billion Federal Government Palliative Fund.
“Other financial infractions committed by the Adeleke administration are Failure to account for the N2billion Federal Government palliative grant and N7billion Osun share of the savings from fuel subsidy removal and inability to provide the needed palliative measure for Osun citizens as against what obtains in other states. Besides 6,000 bags of rice provided by the Federal Government, Osun didn’t provide additional bags of rice.
“It is on record that Governor Adeleke witch-hunted the opposition with state policy as none of the committees ( Mining and Solid Mineral Committee, Asset Recovery committee, Obaship and Appointment review committees) set up through his Executive Orders through which he sacked 28 monarchs twelve months ago has not seen the light of day.
“Adeleke with impunity engaged in constitutional rascality by illegally dissolving statutory boards (OSSIEC, Judicial Service Commission, etc) without due process; appointed his Special Adviser as Chairman of Osun Independent Electoral Commission and also suspended the state Chief Judge, Justice Adepele Ojo, illegally.
“Adeleke’s Civil Servant Screening resulted to the death of a husband and wife retiree in Iwo; he squandered N8 Billion on feeding in the Office of the Governor in three months while the state House of Assembly under the leadership of the RT. Hon Wale Egbedun spent N826 million on running costs in three months.
“Adeleke dismissed over 1,500 teachers and 20,000 O’YES Cadets within the last year of his infamous administration.
“Above are some of the litany of the infractions among others committed by the administration of Governor Adeleke within the last year which are not in the best interest of the people of the state.
“It is no longer news that Adeleke has been running his government by proxy as his siblings who did not stand for an election are occupying prominent stages in his administration.
“Governor Adeleke has also been living in a three-bedroom boys’ quarters of his sister’s apartment in Ede since his inauguration, abandoning the Government House and occasionally going to the Governor’s Office, Abere, since his inauguration 12 calendar months ago”.
