The Channel Television debate on the
Election in the State of Osun today was a
very interesting outing for both parties,APC
and PDP.On the side of APC is Bola Ilori,SA
on Environment to Ogbeni Aregbesola and
Ajibola Bashiru,Commissioner for Special
Duties.PDP has Lere Oyewumi,Director of
Omisore's campaign organisation supported
by Diran Odeyemi,Director of Publicity.
( Click on this link for full report: http:///
1rijf5G )
The encounter started on a philosophical
note from Bola Ilori who alleged that
President Jonathan is turning the Nigerian
Army to the armed wing of the PDP.He
emphasized the facts that Ogbeni connects
well to the people.
Lere Oyewumi raised a lot of accusations
against Ogbeni.He virtually punctured all
the programmes of the Aregbe
administration. Particular attention was paid
to the issue of same uniform to all schools
in the state,cost of the uniform and that
those who went to buy the uniform from
open market was taken to Ilesa prison.
Responding,Ajibola Bashiru punctured the
claims on the cost of uniform saying the
highest for Senior Secondary students is
3500 as against the 5000 claimed by
PDP.He also said those who were arrested
were those who brought in counterfeit of
the materials for unsuspecting members of
the public. He went ahead to list figures of
the number of citizens engaged in the
uniform business and the number that
supply foodstuff to the school feeding
programme as a form of empowerment of
the people.Bola Ilori disagreed that the
uniform shouldn't cost more than 500 naira
asking that even quality toilet papers cost
150 naira and imagine the number that will
be enough to sew a cloth. He challenged
the PDP and the panelists to price the cost
of "teru" fabric in the market.
Lere Adewumi listed 5 things Omisore will
do for the people but there was inadequate
time to discuss that.
One accusation that raised temper in the
studio was the claim that Ogbeni had done
nothing in Osun. Bashiru reeled out a
number of programmes in the area of
Agriculture,road construction, modern
school building,school feeding programme
but PDP called them all "film tricks". Diran
Odeyemi challenged team APC to name
one road or school the state has done in his
Ibokun local government to which they
were unable to answer satisfactorily. This
was a low point for team APC even though
it may be difficult to remember all roads
built all over the state except perhaps the
ones in the state capital.APC will need a
pamphlet to list all of their programmes for
people to know.
I also take exception to comments by Diran
Odeyemi that Bola Ilori is not from Osun so
he may not know the terrain.However Bola
Ilori responded by reminding him that he
served Alao Akala the then Oyo State
Governor and the Oyo people didn't villify
him for that.
We must begin to disabuse our minds that
only an indigene of a state can hold position
in such states.It is a dangerous trends.
The allegations that Aregbe is using a group
called the "State Boys" to harrass people
didn't get enough attention due to time
constraints. I appeal to actors in the Osun
election to play by the rules at all times.It
behoves on the PDP that is alleging to come
up with a proof.
The response from the audience via twitter
suggests that they believed more in the APC
than the PDP team and I also noticed that
APC being the party in power has more to
show the people unlike the challenger PDP
that only has "promises" for the people.
MY TAKE
1. Channels TV should create more time for
programmes like this as 30 minutes is not
enough to do justice to issues raised.
2. Next time,there should be one person
each from both sides to allow for seamless
flow of thought and comments. One
member interviewer will also just suffice.
3. The PDP scored a major point when team
APC was unable to list what Aregbe in
Ibokun. Although it may be difficult to
remember the long list of works done by
Aregbe administration,APC will need a
pamphlet to list all their achievements for
people to see in the face of an opposition
that won't admit government did anything
4.Team APC scored a major point by clearly
portraying team PDP as liars especially with
Bola Ilori's toilet roll analysis which was
clear even to the dumb.Team PDP should
improve on their fact checks
5. While time constraints will not allow team
APC to respond to the use of "state boys" by
Ogbeni as alleged by team PDP,team APC
was able to drive home the negative
impacts of the use of Nigerian Army to
hound opposition. This certainly constitute a
major threat to our nascent democracy.
6. Team Viewers: The calls by PDP to return
schools to the state they were before can
never be a good news to parents in Osun
with the standard of schools we see Aregbe
commissioning everyday. Source www.fb.com/papaakpos

Let's see who the Crown fit all this debate is formalty that has to be obderved ##team Aug 9