http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/june/12/national-12-06-2011-004.html

After the expiration of the first one week of prayers organized by Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to persuade Governor Rauf Aregbesola to appoint his commissioners seven months after he took office, the party has asked the people to continue praying until God touches the heart of the governor.

A statement issued by the state’s acting chairman of the party, Otunba Sunday Ojo Williams, Saturday, said the people needed to intensify prayers, especially now that Aregbesola had travelled out again less than two weeks after coming from a one month visit to the United Kingdom.
The PDP said the situation the state found itself without a functional government and no one in charge of the affairs in the state, the only option was to turn to God to take control.

The party noted that the last journey of Aregbesola, who was accompanied by scores of his supporters to the United Kingdom, lasted close to a month from April 28 to May 21, 2011, adding that his current trip to India especially deserved prayers.
According to the party, if prayers proved insufficient to make things work for Aregbesola, it would call for dry fasting for as long as it took Aregbesola to come back and appoint his commissioners in line with the dictates of the constitution.

“The people of Osun State must know that the current state of affairs is not normal and we would continue to ask God to make Aregbesola see reason why he must have a democratic government in place in Osun State.
“Prayers are the weapons of the helpless. That is why we are offering to assist Aregbesola and his party (ACN) with prayers so that the people of Osun State will have commissioners very soon,” the PDP said.

Useless sort of Ediots. What concerns them with another man's cabinet- after borrowing 18 billion naira to built six stadia with no function flood lights this m.orons still have the gut to spew garbage out of their stinking mouth. Shouldn't they be clamp down in an underground jail for submitting FAKE CALL LOGS JUST TO MALIGN A COMPETENT AND RESPECTED JUSTICE. Every PDP member in South West deserve to be stoned to death.

"Stoned  to death"

If  someone  said  that  about  you i am sure  you  would  not  be  happy.What  gives you  the  right  to sanction  the  death  of  another  individual.Be  very  carefull  with  your   statements  and  may  you  not  see  the   error  of   your  ways at  the  most unfortunate  of   periods.

Sigh

Aregbe. . .

ekt_bear

Admit it , Aregbeshola , Oshimole have not been very encouraging with their performance or i would say lack of it. Pray why , what reason could an Executive Governor have for not appointing commissioners for seven going to eight months into his administrations' tenure ?
I ask you(not the other Yoruba tribal champions) because i know that even though the urge to get defensive comes up,you have shown yourself capable of rising above looking at issues with ethnic/political lenses even though you do struggle with it (as the best of us do at times) . To save you the trouble of asking my interest in the state of affairs in Osun and the southwest in general , stem from the fact that i spent at least one very active year in Osun in addition to the 5+ in Ondo as well as current time spent in Lagos.Having spent that much time around the southwest and paid my tax in this zone, I'd say i have a right to worry or comment don't you think?

I doubt that all ACN governors will be excellent.

Fashola is doing well. Oshiomole is doing well, from what I know. Fayemi is doing well.

Aregbe needs to step it up though

seanet02:

Useless sort of Ediots. What concerns them with another man's cabinet- after borrowing 18 billion naira to built six stadia with no function flood lights this m.orons still have the gut to spew garbage out of their stinking mouth. Shouldn't they be clamp down in an underground jail for submitting FAKE CALL LOGS JUST TO MALIGN A COMPETENT AND RESPECTED JUSTICE. Every PDP member in South West deserve to be stoned to death.

This is an unfortunate comment.
A man came to office seven months ago and could not appoint a commissioner. Worst still he traveled for one month leaving the affairs of the to who, if I may ask?
When he was inaugurated, it took him 4 weeks to resume office. He is currently in India on another two weeks.

Rather than ask the right question, you said people should be stoned to death.

HMMMM, maybe he need to come out and explain his reason for the delay in appointing commissioners who should have help him in moving the state forward and at a faster pace.

I have been saying it that i have the feeling Aregbesola will be a big flop. I just cannot understand the rationale behind his delay. When he eventually appoints commisiioner , they will need 12 to 15 months to stablise and draw out policies of which the tenure will be well into its 3rd year and another election will be looming.

Couple of weeks back most of the announced 20000 workers were not paid which vinidcates those of us who analysed that the move was an unsustainable populist move. No commissioners means no govt is running in the state, why does the governor need to travel about when commissioners of specif ministry can do most of those travels for him.

Lagosboy:

, No commissioners means no govt is running in the state, why does the governor need to travel about when commissioners of specif ministry can do most of those travels for him.

Exactly what I thought

Rauf, I dey laugh oh!

No commissioners means no govt is running in the state, why does the governor need to travel about when commissioners of specif ministry can do most of those travels for him.

Its really amusing how some people here see PDP as a party full of illiterate and stupid people. What else does the governor need if after months of governance, he doesn't see the need for appointing Commissioners?

commissioners do not make an administration perform better.in what ways akala oyinlola and gbenga daniel administration with commissioners faired better?if permanent secretaries and directors are performing,fine.pdp should go and sleep.aregbe is man of the people.

@laalamed,
would u take the failure of some governors to derogate the importance of commissioners in an administration? From ur assertion i can deduce that governors are useless to states since some governors flunked. Man, better cogitate before commenting alfresco.

Laalamed:

commissioners do not make an administration perform better.in what ways akala oyinlola and gbenga daniel administration with commissioners faired better?if permanent secretaries and directors are performing,fine.pdp should go and sleep.aregbe is man of the people.

It is a constitutional requirement to have a cabinet and Rauf Aregbesola's decision to not have one is dictatorship and brazen disregard for the contitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria upon which he was elected. So much for being part of the ACN the self-proclaimed progressive party of Nigeria. I will like to see ACN loyalists explain this one away.

The hallmark of democracy is respect for the law as is untill it is changed. No matter how noble anybody may claim their intentions are, it is unacceptable to disrespect the law, otherwise a mad Governor will simply bank the state treasury for himself and tell us he has given the money to God in accordance to the teachings of his religion.

I think the PDP in Osun should make more caricature of Rauf Aregbesola's Government and light a huge Candle signifying their vigil prayers for him and only blow it off when he finally appoints a cabinet.

mikeansy:

It is a constitutional requirement to have a cabinet and Rauf Aregbesola's decision to not have one is dictatorship and brazen disregard for the contitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria upon which he was elected. So much for being part of the ACN the self-proclaimed progressive party of Nigeria. I will like to see ACN loyalists explain this one away.

The hallmark of democracy is respect for the law as is untill it is changed. No matter how noble anybody may claim their intentions are, it is unacceptable to disrespect the law, otherwise a mad Governor will simply bank the state treasury for himself and tell us he has given the money to God in accordance to the teachings of his religion.

I think the PDP in Osun should make more caricature of Rauf Aregbesola's Government and light a huge Candle signifying their vigil prayers for him and only blow it off when he finally appoints a cabinet.

Thats a big LIE.

Lagosboy and ekt_bear. I am still watching the governor's performance too but the issue of appointing commissioners can be explained. Politics comes first before you do any good work, you have to be in office. To be you have to play the game the way it is played.

Rauf came in when the house was in control of PDP. At a time he wanted to constitute committees for local government, he had to negotiate with the PDP controlled house to include their loyalists in those committees. The same thing goes for commissioners, he would have to include all sort of opposition politicians in his cabinet.

If you were the governor, why would you do that? Why would you empower a ruthless opposition backed with federal powers? If he did that, do you think ACN would have cleared every contested position in the state in the last general elections? We need to learn one or two things about politics, its not as straightforward as you guys seem to think. Fashola had the leverage in Lagos because Tinubu already did the politics there. Go check the battles Tinubu fought in that place against PDP in his early years in office.

I believe Rauf is simply doing the politics first.

Akanbi_edu:

Lagosboy and ekt_bear. I am still watching the governor's performance too but the issue of appointing commissioners can be explained. Politics comes first before you do any good work, you have to be in office. To be you have to play the game the way it is played.

Rauf came in when the house was in control of PDP. At a time he wanted to constitute committees for local government, he had to negotiate with the PDP controlled house to include their loyalists in those committees. The same thing goes for commissioners, he would have to include all sort of opposition politicians in his cabinet.

If you were the governor, why would you do that? Why would you empower a ruthless opposition backed with federal powers? If he did that, do you think ACN would have cleared every contested position in the state in the last general elections? We need to learn one or two things about politics, its not as straightforward as you guys seem to think. Fashola had the leverage in Lagos because Tinubu already did the politics there. Go check the battles Tinubu fought in that place against PDP in his early years in office.

I believe Rauf is simply doing the politics first.

I very much know that it is because of politics Rauf is delaying the appointment but the elections were over 6 weeks ago and still no appointments. Are we to believe that in the seven months he has spent he has no list of 20 to 30 people he wants in his cabinet? I believe Rauf is too slow and has no clear policies of which he wants to implement. His table is full of proposals from people looking for ways to scavenge on the govt.

Public policy is different from proposals sponsored by private citizens. No govt is running in Osun state at present. The only running thing is payment of salaries of which civil servants are doing nothing. The celeberated 20000 employment is begining to implode from within, and this is just few months after its announcment. If you remember here on NL we analysed the sustainability of the poplist move and i stated categorically its unsustainability of which is already happening.

I like Rauf as a person but i believe the ACN super proaganda machine might not work for him in the long run if there is nothing to show for it on ground. Elections in osun will be in three years and many policies will require 2 years before the populace feel the effects. 8 months is gone already , time waits for no one.

As for me I don't think commissioners are that important to the successful outing of a government, they are just appointed to help us spend our money. But on the other side, since no man can do the work of about ten men and do it perfectly then I will beg our governor to please appoint them. And as for the PDP organising prayers and helping him do some appointment they are idle just as ACN have said.

The earlier we realise that permanent secretaries and the a virile civil service are more important than appointed people the better we will be for it, if Osun state has a good civil service and the PS are up and doing, there is no need for commissioners jare, or at best just a few ones.

If the ACN does not caution this man, the party will be doomed in Osun state. He should realise that PDP is still waiting in the wings, they have then men of means who can rattle him if he is not cautioned by his holier than holy party. Besides, his state was the only state Goodluck lost in the whole south, is he not a black sheep already? so no pity for him.

@Knowall, Are you in Osun State, because I've not seen any difference the so called millions he has been saving has made to the state, except that he employed 20,000 youths who currently complained for non-payment of there salary.

I'm not Pro-PDP neither Anti-ACN, but to be sincere I've not seen anything really spectacular that this man has done since he was sworn in (apart from his OYES). The man said Osun is so damaged that they have to really sit down and think on how to "repair" it, maybe they are still thinking, or maybe somebody can help call my attention to something special he has done, it might be that I'm not that current with happenings in the state am residing in.

I'm not Pro-PDP neither Anti-ACN, but to be sincere I've not seen anything really spectacular that this man has done since he was sworn in (apart from his OYES). The man said Osun is so damaged that they have to really sit down and think on how to "repair" it, maybe they are still thinking, or maybe somebody can help call my attention to something special he has done, it might be that I'm not that current with happenings in the state am residing in.

If he has save your state N200 million in 8 months that is 10% of the 2 billion Oshun averagely gets EVERY month then kudos to him. Is Education and health care not free or am I missing something here

And who told you Primary and secondary school students do pay fee before, as for heath care, go to hospitals you will only be given the common drugs free of charge you will to go and buy the other ones youself, and to inform you Doctors have been on strike for few months now, so who is there to attend to you.

If he's saving millions of naira every month and this is the best we can get, then we must get prepared for dry days once he appoints commissioners and other political office holder.

The governor looks clueless to me.The man must have spent so much money to get that position and he has suddenly realised that the money at his disposal in osun state may not be enough to pay back those lagos big wigs that financedc him.

That aside,the man should be commended for employing those unemployed youths,though the mechanism for that employment scheme itself is questionable,debatable and may not be sustainable in the longrun.

Aregbesola sure needs prayers,i feel the man now knows the difference between rabble rousing and governing a state,especially when the state in question is a landlocked and economically non-viable state like osun state,whose main source of revenue is the monthly federation account disbursement.The man presently does not have an answer to the socio-economic problems confronting that state.A case at hand is the epileptic water situation in osogbo.My dad's house in the kola balogun area of the state capital has had the two days weekly supply of pipe borne water reduced to once every two months supply.

The guy needs to buckle up and start performing,let Fashola and Tinubu handle lagos state.The idea of running Osun state while residing in lagos is unacceptable and the people of the state can only be fooled for a while,if he keeps moving at this pace the people of the state will surely abandon his government and his party.

Lagosboy:

I very much know that it is because of politics Rauf is delaying the appointment but the elections were over 6 weeks ago and still no appointments. Are we to believe that in the seven months he has spent he has no list of 20 to 30 people he wants in his cabinet? I believe Rauf is too slow and has no clear policies of which he wants to implement. His table is full of proposals from people looking for ways to scavenge on the govt.

Public policy is different from proposals sponsored by private citizens. No govt is running in Osun state at present. The only running thing is payment of salaries of which civil servants are doing nothing. The celeberated 20000 employment is begining to implode from within, and this is just few months after its announcment. If you remember here on NL we analysed the sustainability of the poplist move and i stated categorically its unsustainability of which is already happening.

I like Rauf as a person but i believe the ACN super proaganda machine might not work for him in the long run if there is nothing to show for it on ground. Elections in osun will be in three years and many policies will require 2 years before the populace feel the effects. 8 months is gone already , time waits for no one.

I don't like populist moves too but I figured he had to do that to win elections first. Rauf has another local problem between choosing Osun based politicians and the Lagos based politicians. i think he prefers people he worked with in Lagos and that in itself is creating tension in the state. Whatever the case mayb, I think it's too early to judge the governor in this particular case.

Nothing really more to be added. Less propaganda, more actual work. Or you'll lose to the PDP in 3 years time or so

^^^^

Trust me, that guy can not lose to the PDP in the nearest future. He is "badder" than Tinubu in these kind of things. I am just hoping he doesn't flop in terms of performance. But real grassroot politics, you have to give it to the guy.

@Priceworth you have said it all, the only thing that is happening is Osun State is the payment of salaries.
@Akanbi-Edu. Yes the man's hand is tied on down on whether to appoint Lagos based politicians or Osun state based politicians.