As unpaid salary crisis tears Osun apart…
Aregbesola
has destroyed Osun with lack of strategic plan —PDP chairman His
financial prudence has transformed Osun State —Babayemi, APC chieftain
Chairman
of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State, Alhaji Gani
Olaoluwa, speaks with MOSES ALAO over the Governor Rauf Aregbesola-led
government’s failure to pay workers’ salaries and the economic situation
of the state. Excerpts:
YOUR
party appears to have failed, following the loss of the last
presidential election. It also lost in almost all the elections it
fielded candidates for in Osun State. Since then, you have become
silent. Does that not mean you are not on ground?
I will not agree with you that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has failed. What the loss means is that we have temporarily stepped aside. This is why I will not agree that we have failed. It is not as if we lost all elections or have no governors or seats in the National Assembly and the state assemblies.
You would have been right, if the All Progressives Congress (APC) had won all the governorship and National Assembly seats. Just because we decided to give peace a chance; because we did not want bloodshed, by conceding defeat even when there were glaring evidences of conspiracy and irregularities, does not mean the PDP has failed. We have not failed and we are sure that the party will return stronger.
And if you say that Osun State PDP has resigned to fate, you are right. One should always accept whatever God decides in any matter. But to say that the PDP has become silent or has only been engaging in vainglory is unacceptable. We can never keep silent in the face of the suffering being meted to the people of the state by the APC.
And our claim about being on ground is not mere boasting. You will have to wait till when there is another election to find that out. I am confident that the PDP will come out victorious in any election conducted in Osun State.
You are fond of saying that you will defeat APC; yet, you recorded a poor showing in the national and state Assembly elections. What went wrong?
One thing about elections is that the outcomes of others are always affected by the first. You will recall the international conspiracy that played out in the last general election. But right before then, the APC had programmed the Osun governorship election to serve as its precursor to the last general election. And you will recall that for more than three years, we had been complaining about Ambassador Rufus Akeju, who was the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Osun State. We said times and again that he was planted to harm the PDP and that there was no way we could win an election with Akeju as REC. We fought, we wrote petitions to the former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, the National Assembly, the Presidency and so on, that we had no confidence in Akeju.
But we became helpless and eventually, the APC perfected its rigging machinery and won the August 9 governorship election. We were not surprised that we lost that election. Now, after losing that election, enough ground had been prepared for the last general election.
In any case, the last exercise in which you claimed that we lost virtually all elections, I can boldly assert, will go down in history as one of the worst, because we saw and raised the alarm that Attahiru Jega had a hidden agenda and he eventually carried it out.
Some people believe it was one of the best elections, especially with the card reader innovation and all that. What do you say to that?
Forget card readers. Card readers were only used where INEC wanted to reduce the voting strength of the PDP. They have perfected the plans. Which card readers are you talking about? Did you not hear of massive underage voting in the North? How did they get voter cards and what did card readers do to stop them? How did 1.9 million voters vote in Kano without a void vote? Ask yourself these questions and you will understand that the last election was not transparent.
Your party was accused of politicising the plight of workers in Osun State who were owed about nine months’ salary until recently, with the APC indicting you of connivance with a judge of the state High Court to attempt destroy the government. What is your reaction?
The problem we have in Osun State today, regarding workers’ salary, we pray it does not happen to other states. It is something that makes people cry; it reminds one of Somalia where hunger killed thousands of people. Maybe that was where Aregbesola was trained, because he has been meting out capital punishment to workers and people of the state through his failure to pay salaries. Everyone in the state is suffering as a result of his lack of focus and strategic planning.
Before he became governor, he knew that Osun State thrives on workers’ salaries, knowing that there are no industries. But he has failed to pay that for nine months, when it is not as if there were no allocations. And he still has the gut to go about lying to the people.
Anyway, we are encouraged that he spoke the truth for once when he said he was no longer in control of the situation. And we thought he was going to resign as men of reason do whenever they admit to have failed.
And to respond to the nonsensical statement that the PDP connived with Justice Folahanmi Oloyede: of course, the whole world can see that the APC is confused and desperate to blame its failure on someone else. We need not connive with anyone, because we have held our ground against Aregbesola’s misrule for five years.
However, it was good that we still have men and women of reason and courage like Justice Oloyede, who can speak up for what is right, not minding whose ox would be gored. Osun State needs courageous people like her at a time like this and posterity will vindicate her.
So, if the APC sees Oloyede and the PDP’s position as a product of connivance, then, it must be good; that is a positive connivance for the freedom of our state and the betterment of its people. And we are calling on the House of Assembly to redeem its image at this point by looking into the petition sent by the judge. The speaker, Honourable Najeem Salaam, and other members of the House should act right so that posterity will vindicate them. Honourable Adejare Bello was speaker in this state and his good deeds continue to be remembered. Salaam should stand for what is right at this important point in the life of our state.
Is it true that the PDP has been politicising the matter unnecessarily?
What are you saying? How has the PDP politicised the failure of the government to pay salaries for nine months? Did the state government not owe salaries? Are workers not on strike? Is the state not in economic comatose? Have projects not been stopped? Has Aregbesola not suspended all the programmes with which he deceived Osun people to be elected into office, like the food supply to pupils and so on? Did Aregbesola not say that the situation was beyond his control?
How is the PDP responsible for any of these? You see, anyone saying that the PDP is politicising the matter must be one of those who brought the state to its present state. Thank God for the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN); the Islamic leadership; two senators from Ogun and Bayelsa who are PDP members and other PDP leaders in Osun State as well as others too numerous to mention, that have made efforts to mitigate the suffering of the workers. But the truth is that no amount of foodstuffs can fill the void left by the non-payment of salaries and it is a shame that Aregbesola’s promise of heaven and earth can only produce a paltry one and a half month salary, which cannot take the workers anywhere.
You have always been critical of Governor Aregbesola, but he has continued to defeat the PDP. Don’t you think his love for the people made them vote for him?
Did you say love for the people? Which love? We told you that they rigged elections and you talk about love for the people? I challenge any Osun State indigene that has been empowered by Aregbesola to come out and say it. What has he done for Osun State and its people? He has nothing to show in the last five years; no single project has been commissioned, despite the billions he has borrowed. All the roads he took loans to construct have been abandoned and with the economic hardship the governor has brought on Osun State, which now has to borrow to pay salaries, Osun State people should as well not expect him to complete any of the projects.
How do you react to the fact that contrary to what you are saying, the government insists that it has been carrying out developmental projects such as road constructions and others?
The governor only builds roads in newspapers and on billboards. What I and other people of Osun State see every day are abandoned projects or uncompleted projects that have begun to fail even before the completion, such as the Ikirun – Osogbo road.
If we are not careful, Osun State might soon be cut off from the rest of the South-West as a result of the bad condition that Aregbesola’s contractors have left the roads they are supposedly constructing. They dredged holes, destroyed what used to be good roads and could no longer construct new ones. People prefer that he left them untouched and allow the Federal Road Management Agency (FERMA) to continue to maintain them, rather than impose the current deplorable condition. Gbongan – Osogbo road is now more terrible than it was before.
Unfortunately, the governor has taken loans for all these uncompleted works. He has obtained loans that would not be fully repaid until 2040.
I will not agree with you that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has failed. What the loss means is that we have temporarily stepped aside. This is why I will not agree that we have failed. It is not as if we lost all elections or have no governors or seats in the National Assembly and the state assemblies.
You would have been right, if the All Progressives Congress (APC) had won all the governorship and National Assembly seats. Just because we decided to give peace a chance; because we did not want bloodshed, by conceding defeat even when there were glaring evidences of conspiracy and irregularities, does not mean the PDP has failed. We have not failed and we are sure that the party will return stronger.
And if you say that Osun State PDP has resigned to fate, you are right. One should always accept whatever God decides in any matter. But to say that the PDP has become silent or has only been engaging in vainglory is unacceptable. We can never keep silent in the face of the suffering being meted to the people of the state by the APC.
And our claim about being on ground is not mere boasting. You will have to wait till when there is another election to find that out. I am confident that the PDP will come out victorious in any election conducted in Osun State.
You are fond of saying that you will defeat APC; yet, you recorded a poor showing in the national and state Assembly elections. What went wrong?
One thing about elections is that the outcomes of others are always affected by the first. You will recall the international conspiracy that played out in the last general election. But right before then, the APC had programmed the Osun governorship election to serve as its precursor to the last general election. And you will recall that for more than three years, we had been complaining about Ambassador Rufus Akeju, who was the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Osun State. We said times and again that he was planted to harm the PDP and that there was no way we could win an election with Akeju as REC. We fought, we wrote petitions to the former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, the National Assembly, the Presidency and so on, that we had no confidence in Akeju.
But we became helpless and eventually, the APC perfected its rigging machinery and won the August 9 governorship election. We were not surprised that we lost that election. Now, after losing that election, enough ground had been prepared for the last general election.
In any case, the last exercise in which you claimed that we lost virtually all elections, I can boldly assert, will go down in history as one of the worst, because we saw and raised the alarm that Attahiru Jega had a hidden agenda and he eventually carried it out.
Some people believe it was one of the best elections, especially with the card reader innovation and all that. What do you say to that?
Forget card readers. Card readers were only used where INEC wanted to reduce the voting strength of the PDP. They have perfected the plans. Which card readers are you talking about? Did you not hear of massive underage voting in the North? How did they get voter cards and what did card readers do to stop them? How did 1.9 million voters vote in Kano without a void vote? Ask yourself these questions and you will understand that the last election was not transparent.
Your party was accused of politicising the plight of workers in Osun State who were owed about nine months’ salary until recently, with the APC indicting you of connivance with a judge of the state High Court to attempt destroy the government. What is your reaction?
The problem we have in Osun State today, regarding workers’ salary, we pray it does not happen to other states. It is something that makes people cry; it reminds one of Somalia where hunger killed thousands of people. Maybe that was where Aregbesola was trained, because he has been meting out capital punishment to workers and people of the state through his failure to pay salaries. Everyone in the state is suffering as a result of his lack of focus and strategic planning.
Before he became governor, he knew that Osun State thrives on workers’ salaries, knowing that there are no industries. But he has failed to pay that for nine months, when it is not as if there were no allocations. And he still has the gut to go about lying to the people.
Anyway, we are encouraged that he spoke the truth for once when he said he was no longer in control of the situation. And we thought he was going to resign as men of reason do whenever they admit to have failed.
And to respond to the nonsensical statement that the PDP connived with Justice Folahanmi Oloyede: of course, the whole world can see that the APC is confused and desperate to blame its failure on someone else. We need not connive with anyone, because we have held our ground against Aregbesola’s misrule for five years.
However, it was good that we still have men and women of reason and courage like Justice Oloyede, who can speak up for what is right, not minding whose ox would be gored. Osun State needs courageous people like her at a time like this and posterity will vindicate her.
So, if the APC sees Oloyede and the PDP’s position as a product of connivance, then, it must be good; that is a positive connivance for the freedom of our state and the betterment of its people. And we are calling on the House of Assembly to redeem its image at this point by looking into the petition sent by the judge. The speaker, Honourable Najeem Salaam, and other members of the House should act right so that posterity will vindicate them. Honourable Adejare Bello was speaker in this state and his good deeds continue to be remembered. Salaam should stand for what is right at this important point in the life of our state.
Is it true that the PDP has been politicising the matter unnecessarily?
What are you saying? How has the PDP politicised the failure of the government to pay salaries for nine months? Did the state government not owe salaries? Are workers not on strike? Is the state not in economic comatose? Have projects not been stopped? Has Aregbesola not suspended all the programmes with which he deceived Osun people to be elected into office, like the food supply to pupils and so on? Did Aregbesola not say that the situation was beyond his control?
How is the PDP responsible for any of these? You see, anyone saying that the PDP is politicising the matter must be one of those who brought the state to its present state. Thank God for the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN); the Islamic leadership; two senators from Ogun and Bayelsa who are PDP members and other PDP leaders in Osun State as well as others too numerous to mention, that have made efforts to mitigate the suffering of the workers. But the truth is that no amount of foodstuffs can fill the void left by the non-payment of salaries and it is a shame that Aregbesola’s promise of heaven and earth can only produce a paltry one and a half month salary, which cannot take the workers anywhere.
You have always been critical of Governor Aregbesola, but he has continued to defeat the PDP. Don’t you think his love for the people made them vote for him?
Did you say love for the people? Which love? We told you that they rigged elections and you talk about love for the people? I challenge any Osun State indigene that has been empowered by Aregbesola to come out and say it. What has he done for Osun State and its people? He has nothing to show in the last five years; no single project has been commissioned, despite the billions he has borrowed. All the roads he took loans to construct have been abandoned and with the economic hardship the governor has brought on Osun State, which now has to borrow to pay salaries, Osun State people should as well not expect him to complete any of the projects.
How do you react to the fact that contrary to what you are saying, the government insists that it has been carrying out developmental projects such as road constructions and others?
The governor only builds roads in newspapers and on billboards. What I and other people of Osun State see every day are abandoned projects or uncompleted projects that have begun to fail even before the completion, such as the Ikirun – Osogbo road.
If we are not careful, Osun State might soon be cut off from the rest of the South-West as a result of the bad condition that Aregbesola’s contractors have left the roads they are supposedly constructing. They dredged holes, destroyed what used to be good roads and could no longer construct new ones. People prefer that he left them untouched and allow the Federal Road Management Agency (FERMA) to continue to maintain them, rather than impose the current deplorable condition. Gbongan – Osogbo road is now more terrible than it was before.
Unfortunately, the governor has taken loans for all these uncompleted works. He has obtained loans that would not be fully repaid until 2040.
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