By Gbemi Olufiade, ACarb.
You cannot convince a monkey that honey is sweeter than banana because it is deeply attracted to what its nature desires. In the same manner, you can hardly convince a wicked person that good character is greater than arrogance, hatred, envy, and bad attitude. A corrupt mind often rejects wisdom, just as darkness avoids light. Until the heart is transformed, such a person may continue to see kindness as weakness, honesty as foolishness, and good conduct as having no value. That is why character is not forced on people; it is revealed by the condition of the heart.
From AD, AC, ACN, to APC. Different names, same political structure, same painful history, same pattern of governance that left deep scars on the lives of workers, pensioners, youths, and ordinary citizens in Osun State.
Across Osogbo, Ife, Ilesa, Ede, Iwo, Ikirun, Ila, Modakeke, Ejigbo, Ikire, and many communities in Osun State, the memories are still fresh. Families still remember the years of hardship, half salaries, unpaid pensions, abandoned projects, economic suffering, and policies that pushed many homes into frustration and hopelessness.
The painful history began during the AD administration when thousands of civil servants were retrenched in 2000. Breadwinners suddenly lost their jobs. Families lost their only means of survival. Many homes entered darkness overnight. The emotional trauma and economic hardship that followed affected countless citizens across Osun State.
Fresh in the memories of many Osun citizens are painful stories that, according to critics of the APC administrations in the state, symbolized the human cost of repeated retrenchment policies and workers’ hardship.
Among such cases frequently mentioned are those of late Asimiyu Oladele from Iragbiji and late Wole Oyekanmi, both former staff members of the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation. According to accounts shared by sympathizers and former colleagues, the two men were allegedly affected twice by retrenchment exercises carried out under APC aligned administrations in Osun State.
It is recalled that they were first disengaged during the administration of Bisi Akande before later being reinstated during the PDP administration of Olagunsoye Oyinlola. However, critics allege that they were again removed from service during the administration of Adegboyega Oyetola.
Supporters of the current administration often reference these incidents as examples of the emotional and economic hardship experienced by some workers and families during past retrenchment exercises in Osun State. According to these narratives, the health conditions of the affected individuals reportedly deteriorated afterward, and both men eventually passed away, leaving behind grieving families and painful memories among colleagues and associates.
For many citizens, stories like these continue to fuel public conversations about workers’ welfare, job security, humane governance, and the long term social consequences of government policies on ordinary families in Osun State.
Years later, the situation worsened under the AC, ACN, and APC administrations. Workers were subjected to irregular salary payments and the infamous half salary regime. Civil servants worked tirelessly but returned home with incomplete wages while prices of goods continued to rise. Parents struggled to pay school fees. Pensioners suffered neglect. Promotion arrears remained unpaid. Even more painful was the so called promotion without financial implementation in 2019, where workers received promotion letters without corresponding salary adjustments.
The morale of the civil service collapsed. Hunger spread across homes. Many workers fell into debt. Some pensioners died waiting for their entitlements. Osun State, once known as the State of the Living Spring, became associated with economic hardship and uncertainty.
Beyond workers’ welfare, Osun people also witnessed what many citizens described as reckless governance, abandoned projects, and wasteful spending of public resources. Billions of naira were allegedly committed to projects and programmes that many residents considered white elephant ventures. These included Opon Imo, O Hub, O YES, Igi Iye, the Osun Airport project at Ido Osun, helicopters purchased for surveillance, and several other projects that critics claimed consumed huge public funds without delivering corresponding long term benefits to the people.
Across the state, abandoned projects and unused government properties became symbols of waste and poor priorities. Decrepit government vehicles were left behind while new purchases allegedly continued. Ecological problems worsened despite claims that huge amounts were spent on environmental interventions, dredging projects, and demolition exercises.
Questions were repeatedly raised about how bailout funds, COVID 19 palliatives, grants, and local government interventions were spent during the APC years. Many citizens demanded explanations over alleged diversion and mismanagement of public resources while workers continued to suffer unpaid salaries and pension arrears.
It was against this background of hardship, salary crisis, debt burden, abandoned projects, and declining public confidence that Governor Ademola Nurudeen Jackson Adeleke emerged with a different message centered on workers’ welfare, grassroots development, peace, and human centered governance.
Since assuming office, the Adeleke administration has consistently projected itself as a government focused on restoring dignity to governance and rebuilding public trust. One of the strongest areas repeatedly acknowledged by supporters is the regular payment of workers’ salaries and renewed attention to pension obligations. Unlike the painful era of half salaries, workers now receive their wages more consistently, while efforts have also been directed toward clearing inherited arrears and stabilizing the civil service structure.
The administration has also embarked on road construction projects across the thirty local governments and the area office, reconnecting communities and improving transportation within the state. Rehabilitation of schools, classrooms, and educational facilities has continued under the present administration, alongside efforts to improve teacher welfare and ensure sustainable recruitment into the education sector.
Primary Health Centres across the state are also being rehabilitated and upgraded. According to supporters of the administration, these interventions are not cosmetic projects but deliberate investments aimed at improving healthcare delivery for ordinary citizens at the grassroots.
Beyond infrastructure, the Adeleke administration has consistently projected a governance philosophy rooted in compassion and social inclusion. The widely discussed story of Miss Oluwatosin Adejumo, the trained NCE holder and caterer who was empowered and appointed as a Government House chef, became symbolic of what supporters describe as people oriented leadership. To many citizens, the gesture represented hope, social mobility, and recognition of talent regardless of social background.
Supporters of Governor Adeleke also argue that unlike the APC years that allegedly promoted intimidation and bitterness in politics, the current administration has sustained relative peace, stability, and order across Osun State. Through engagement with traditional rulers, security agencies, stakeholders, and community leaders, efforts have reportedly been intensified toward ensuring peaceful coexistence and lasting solutions to communal disputes across the state.
The administration’s collaboration with traditional institutions, including the Osun State Council of Obas, has also been presented as part of a broader strategy to strengthen grassroots peace building and conflict resolution mechanisms. Many observers believe this approach has contributed significantly to maintaining peace and public order in the state.
On the issue of local government allocations and financial autonomy, the controversy generated nationwide further exposed what many citizens described as the politicisation of governance by APC interests. Several respected voices across Nigeria, including the Nigerian Bar Association and eminent legal practitioners, openly questioned the withholding and handling of local government allocations affecting Osun State.
Many supporters of the Osun State Government and other concerned citizens have strongly criticized what they describe as the forceful takeover or hijacking of local government administration by APC actors, arguing that such actions undermine constitutional order, democratic principles, and the rule of law.
According to these views, any attempt to seize control of local government institutions outside lawful constitutional and judicial processes is inconsistent with the spirit of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Reference is often made to Section 1(2) of the Constitution, which provides that no person or group shall take control of government or any part thereof except in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
Critics of the development maintain that democracy must be guided by due process, legality, and respect for constituted authority rather than political intimidation, force, or acts capable of creating tension within the state. They further argue that local government administration should operate strictly within constitutional boundaries and judicial pronouncements.
Across Osun State, many citizens, legal commentators, civil society actors, and political stakeholders have continued to call for peace, constitutional compliance, and respect for democratic institutions. To such observers, the preservation of law and order remains more important than partisan interests or political confrontation.
For many residents, the issue goes beyond politics. It is viewed as a question of protecting democratic governance, public peace, and constitutional stability within Osun State.
The Nigerian Bar Association, after reviewing the matter, reportedly described the continued withholding of local government allocations as unconstitutional and a threat to constitutional democracy. Senior legal minds also insisted that local government autonomy and constitutional order must be respected in line with democratic principles.
Rather than remaining silent, Governor Adeleke’s administration consistently defended the constitutional rights of Osun people through legal and public advocacy. Supporters of the government argued that defending constitutional order, local government autonomy, and the rights of citizens is not propaganda but democratic responsibility.
Many citizens therefore see a clear difference between the old order and the present administration. On one side is a painful history associated with retrenchment, half salaries, pension suffering, abandoned projects, debt accumulation, and alleged waste of public resources. On the other side is an administration that supporters describe as prioritising workers’ welfare, infrastructural renewal, healthcare, peace, grassroots development, and humane governance.
Today, many workers, pensioners, youths, artisans, traders, and ordinary citizens continue to reflect on these realities while assessing the future of Osun State. The debate is no longer merely about political parties. It is about governance, compassion, accountability, leadership, and the kind of future the people desire for their children.
History matters. Experience matters. Workers’ welfare matters. Peace matters. Responsible leadership matters.
And for many citizens across Osun State, the memories of the past remain too painful to ignore.
