By Sarafa Ibrahim
Mr. Ismail Omipidan is as usual, off the mark. Contrary to the false impression, he is solely driven by bitterness and not logical in his analysis. Perhaps, this is because he knows next to nothing about Osun politics, as he was only opportuned to serve in the Oyetola government after the real politicians have won the election. Interestingly, Oyetola won by less than 400 votes in a controversial manner in a violent rerun, yet, Omipidan is trying to diminish the import of nearly 28,000 votes which Adeleke secured victory in 2022 governorship election, pushing his usual lies that election held in Ede till 11pm. The question that Omipidan has refused to answer since he started peddling that lie is, did election ended in 11pm in Ila where he came from too because Adeleke cleared all the wards there? Adeleke won in 17 LGs in 2022 and so, an intellectual dishonesty for anyone to be pushing fallacies to playdown the choice of the electorate.
And in the near three years, Governor Adeleke has justified the trust of the people with laudable deliveries. Every part of Osun is taking a new look due to massive infrastructural renewal ongoing. Omipidan may be oblivious of this because he stays in Abuja but deliberately pushes out lies in other to misled the public. Major towns in Osun are either experiencing their first-ever dual carriageway or overhead bridge, something that had hitherto being painted as impossible by a government that Omipidan served in.
In nearly three years, the Adeleke administration has expended nearly N50bn on pension benefits, money that is far more than what has been spent by the previous governments, including the one that Omipidan was a part of in 12 years. Also, half salary which Omipidan and his likes paint as impossible to be paid, is being paid by Governor Adeleke. In fact, most unbonded pensioners have been fully paid while bonded pensioners and active workers have received more than six months of what was owed to them by the government prior to Adeleke.
Every pensioners in Osun state are placed on a full healthcare coverage, relieving the senior citizens of the trouble of managing their health at old age. Osun is the first state in the whole of Nigeria to embark on such expansive healthcare cover for senior citizens, easing not just their worries but ensuring that they are no longer lost to avoidable death due to inability to fund their healthcare.
What is more is that, Osun is one of the states in Nigeria that is paying minimum wage. In fact, Osun is paying over N75,000 for the least paid worker in the state, which is higher than the N70,000 signed into law by the President. Osun table on minimum wage is one of the best in the whole of Nigeria and Omipidan, if he’s honest enough, can check around and confirm. It took the government that Omipidan served in more than 18 months before implementing N30,000 minimum wage and the implementation was even shabbily applied with some seeing no reasonable change in their earnings. Omipidan can reach out to civil servants in Osun today to know the significant changes in their wage. That is the effect of good leadership which Governor Adeleke has brought to bear.
Although, Omipidan may have issues with seeing a man happy but there has been nowhere that dancing diminishes the effect leadership. Only sadists take offense in seeing people happy and that is a very bad one. In Osun today, Governor Adeleke doesn’t just dance but brings smiles to the people through the delivery of good governance. In Iwo where I come from, Governor Adeleke is starting the construction of the first-ever dual carriageway. This is beside several other roads he has constructed in the town. Under the government that Omipidan served in, what Iwo got in four years was a 1.5km Lawyer Atanda road. Yet, that was a time when a bag of cement averaged N3,500 and the dollar was exchanged for N460.
Public schools and healthcare centres infrastructure are being wholly revived from the hopeless situation they were in the past. New tractors, firefighting trucks which were ignored for 12 years, hence, causing untold pains for the people, were procured and deployed for use by Governor Adeleke.
Omipidan must realise that the people are no fools. They can tell the differences between the past and now, the reason why they are solidly behind Governor Adeleke. That is what matters and not just some conspiracy theories hiding in their rooms thousands of kilometres trying to spin lies. Osun people at home can see and feel the effect of governance under Adeleke and no amount of cheap lies will change the reality.
