Adeleke’s Imperceptible, Lethargic Approach To Governance—Kola Olabisi

After his unannounced absence from the state for about twenty days after his thirty-five-day tenancy at the Bola Ige House, Abere, Osun State, the embattled Senator Nurudeen Ademola Adeleke, sneaked into the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, Osogbo, venue of the 2023 cross-over event organized by the government.

During his 20-day AWOL, it is tempting to submit that the state was in limbo as no one could be said to be officially in charge because power and authority was not transmitted to the deputy governor, Mr Kola Adewusi.

The dancing governor was seen at the 30th wedding anniversary of Chief Dele Momodu, the publisher of OVATION Magazine, where he was twerking in a manner that was at variance with his new status of a state governor to the utter consternation of the eminent dignitaries in attendance.

While the governor was rollicking in Lagos in a resemblance of a glaring abdication of the official responsibility of his oath of office to administer the state for the sustainability of her glory, the members of his copious committees were busy taking a pound of flesh from some leaders of the opposition APC in a calculated attempt to diminish and demarket the opposition ahead of the general election scheduled to hold in February.

The committee system of administering the state, casually introduced by Governor Adeleke, apart from being first of its kind, has been found out to be antithetical to solving any known corporate challenges of the state. It rather aggravates the challenges. 

Simply because Adeleke has been running a government by proxy due to his lack of wherewithal to act to type in his official function as the state governor, the state has been the victim as there has been an arrested development since Adeleke took office.

It may not be out of place to label the Adeleke government as one being strangely run through issuance of frivolous press statements and obnoxious executive orders which unarguably have no place in a genuine democracy.

It is painful to note that some of the political functionaries in Adeleke’s camp have forgotten that they are no longer in the opposition as they nauseatingly compete with one another to spew out unexpected hogwash against the opposition in order to convince the discomforted new Sheriff in town that they are loyal and due for either political patronage or one appointment or the other.

The situation is so bad with the Osun State PDP that there appears to be absence of decorum and regulations as to who should be the official spokesperson of either the government or the ruling party as every Tom, Dick and Harry has been fouling the media space in an effort to demonstrate their loyalty to the Pathfinder faction of their party.

Good -intentioned citizens should call Adeleke to order, to desist from making Osun State a laughing stock among the comity of states in Nigeria as there is a need for him to target his actions to reflect his new status as a state governor.

The embattled governor should explain his mission in Lagos for about twenty days within his thirty-five days in office. The tactless defence offered by his associate and Osun West PDP senate candidate, that Adeleke was observing the public holiday and that he would resume at the end of the holiday, is not sufficient. 

It beats one’s imagination how a governor would work for fifteen days and proceed on a holiday for twenty days while the various committees he had set up were busy going after the opposition leaders in a clear case of victimization, oppression and vindictiveness.

Both Adeleke and the pungently- spent Ajele chairman of their party, Akindele Adekunle, have left leprosy to deal with ringworm, in their ways and manners of dealing with any issue that concerns Oyetola and the APC. They assume they can take laws into their hands and pervert justice.

It has been discovered that since Monday when His Excellency, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, was  given a warm welcome in Osogbo, the governing party and the incumbent governor have developed cold feet. They have been bugged down by the spirit of uneasiness, confusion and despair.

Adeleke and his handlers should perish the thought that since the PDP government was inaugurated in the state, the APC members and leaders have fled the state in order for the PDP to have a field day. No, this is a joke taken too far. APC remains a popular party in the state.

No matter the efforts of the Osun PDP to whip up sentiment to curry unmerited favour with the populace aimed at clinging on to power, they should come to terms that heavens would not fall if justice is made to take its pride of place in the election petition before the Tribunal.

So far, there is nothing concretely suggestive of the preparedness and readiness of Adeleke to provide quality governance in Osun State as he has strangely contracted out his statutory authority to rule the state to some committees which are busy exposing the administrative weakness and laxity of their illusive principal by concentrating on witch-hunting and mudslinging.

Chief Kola Olabisi, who is the Director of Media,  Osun State APC , writes from Osogbo