The Osun APC Director of Publicity,
Barrister Kunle Oyatomi, described the
crowd thus: Some critics said we have
been renting crowds to attend
Governor Aregbesola’s rally. I am sure
you will agree with me that you
cannot rend this kind of crowd. The
crowd, as you can see, is
representative of all categories of
people in this constituency (Obokun-
Oriade), and the fact that they have
come to see the governor campaign at
their ally shows that they appreciate
his good works of the past three and a
half years. I make bold to say that the
Ogbeni’s good works will speak for him
at the August 9 election. We are sure
to win the election.
Indeed, the tumultuous crowd at the
rally could have been a question of
what Aregbesola’s loyalists see as his
‘sterling performance’ since his tenure
started in 2010 which, according to
them, has endeared him to the Osun
people, and for which he should be re-
elected. The loyalists readily point to
the Aregbesola’s education policy
which they believe has transformed
the state and is on the way to putting
Osun on a pedestal to compete with
other states across the country.
”The school children in this locality
have no reason not to be here & if not
to appreciate Ogbeni Aregbesola for
all he has done to ensure that
learning in schools is carried out
without tears”, the interim chairman
of the Osun APC, Elder Adelowo
Adebiyi, told Sunday Vanguard at the
rally ground. Under the Osun
education policy, one of the six-point
integral action plan of the Aregbesola
administration, entitled, ‘Promotion of
functional education’, decayed
infrastructure is being replaced and
there is quality control.
Other legs of the action plan are
banishment of hunger/unemployment,
enhanced security/welfare, restoration
of healthy living and promotion of
communal peace. Under the education
policy school children up to primary
four are being fed in school. One of
the key points of the policy is re-
classification into elementary school
(5 years), middle school (4 years) and
high school (3 years), as against the
national education policy of 6-3-3. The
Osun education system gives the pupil
more time at the middle school which
the initiators believe he needs to
prepare him for maturity into high
school.
The education policy with its
attendant mega schools to
accommodate many small schools
brought children from different
religious backgrounds under the same
room to learn soon sparked
controversy. Critics interpreted it to
mean the erasure of religious lines
especially in schools with bias for
religion. The policy was resisted in at
least one school before the fire was
doused. Oyatomi, the Osun APC image
maker, said the crisis was politically
motivated.
His words: The policy was fashioned
out by a team of educationists led by
Professor Wole Soyinka to revive the
education sector which was
practically dead before Governor
Aregbesola came into office.
Unfortunately, some people tried to
politicise it by saying it is anti-
Christianity. Nothing could be far from
the truth. We have only brought
together children of diverse
backgrounds to learn under the same
roof and conducive atmosphere unlike
the former situation where schools
were more of pig sties. This
administration built no fewer than 25
mega schools for this purpose.
Oyatomi spoke further: School
children up to primary four also eat
one nutritious meal at school every
school day to help their brains develop
properly and build a better state in
future. According to him, the feeding
programme has multiplier effects in
Osun as it empowers farmers who
supply the schools with the food items.
The APC spokesman also spoke on the
Opon Imo, tablet of knowledge,
distributed to pupils across Osun. The
tablet, with 56 e-books, visual training
and 10 years past questions, in
addition to the Bible, the Quran and
traditional religion content, also saves
the government huge sums that could
have been spent buying books under
the free education programme, year
in, year out.
On the alleged involvement of
Aregbesola’s son in the Opon Imo
project, the APC spokesman said the
son, being a software expert, merely
introduced it to government,
challenging anybody who has the facts
that he (Aregbesola’s son) benefitted
financially to make them public.
Oyatomi also described as nonsense
the allegation that the state
government brought to Osun a school
uniform making project for which a
huge sum was paid, and, in the
process, denying local tailors business.
According to him, government
facilitated the project to relocate to
Osun on the condition that it will
employ local hands, thereby creating
job opportunities for the people.
Parents are also beneficiaries of the
new dispensation on Osun education
as they now spend less to educate
their children. Even if the parents did
not come to the Aregbesola rally for
this reason, they possibly had many
others bordering on the governor’s
achievements in many other sectors.
The sectors include agriculture where
farmers have access to soft loans and
good roads to transport their produce
to the market; health where new
hospitals are being built and old ones
renovated in addition to free health
treatment for a section of the people;
aggressive infrastructural development
which has seen roads rehabilitated
and new ones built; youth
empowerment which takes care of
unemployed youths; the empowerment
of security agencies to ensure peace
and stop criminality; and ‘robust
management’ of the state economy.
Oyatomi was particular about the
Osun governor’s achievements in the
road sector where, according to him,
Aregbesola is bringing to bear his
ingenuity as an engineer. Durable
roads, the APC spokesman stated, are
being built all over Osun. The novel
aspect of road construction in the
state is that roads are delivered
before contractors are paid. This
ensures that jobs are done to
specifications and are not abandoned.
Oyatomi dismissed critics claim that
the Osun governor is a religious bigot
fighting Christians.
To justify his position, the APC
spokesman explained: Although the
governor is a devout Muslim, and he
does not hide it, his cabinet is
dominated by Christians. Of the 34
members in the cabinet, 22 are
Christians and 12 Muslims. And of the
32 permanent secretaries in the state,
20 are Christians. In the House of
Assembly, made up of 26 members,
only nine are Muslims. All these are
apart from his policies devoid of
religious sentiments.
So, how do you sustain the unfair tag
that the governor is a religious bigot?
On the state’s economy, Oyatomi said
the state administration has managed
it from the point of near bankruptcy
when it assumed office to the point
that it is now sustainable.
Our greatest challenge now is that
government allocation from the
federation account has dropped from
about N5 billion every month to about
N2.5 billion. This is augmented with
about N1.6 billion monthly IGR which
government upped from N300 million
when it came in. But the downsize of it
is that we have workers salary /
pension of N3.6 billion monthly to pay.
It is a dicey situation, but the
statement government has made over
time is that we have the capacity to
manage the Osun economy.
The spokesman pointed out that
sourced for N10 billion Sukuk bond
that was over subscribed to N11 billion,
and another N60 billion bond, out of
which N30 billion had been drawn.
The over-subscription of the Sukuk
bond, according to Oyatomi, told the
story of the investors confidence in the
Osun economy under Aregbesola.
All considered, the Aregbesola
administration has a testimonial that
justifies re-election, Oyatomi added.
The Osun governor arrived the
Obokun-Oriade constituency mega
rally to a tumultuous welcome.
Defying the rain that had threatened
before he came, he immediately
mounted the rostrum to address the
crowd which had waited patiently
since 10 am.
Aregbesola burst into song: Let the
rain fall to drench us. After all we own
our clothes. He warned the opposition
in the August 9 poll against dividing
the Osun people along religious lines
as it would have grave consequences.
The governor said he had done so
much to improve the lives of the Osun
people and expressed optimism that
he would be re-elected for the goodies
to continue.

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