Today is the Birthday of Governor Gboyega Oyetola, a boardroom guru, an adept administrator and a political megastar. He is wished a prosperous new year in the name of Jesus.

Read his profile below:

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Isiaq Adegboyega Oyetola ( often called Gboyega Oyetola or Ilerioluwa) is an insurance tycoon, a seasoned administrator, a politician and the 5th executive governor of Osun State. He is a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Born 67 years ago in Iragbiji, Boripe local government, Oyetola holds BSc (Insurance) 1978 and MBA(1990) of the University of Lagos, Akoka.

He was Area Manager at Leadway assurance company in 1980, Insurance Underwriting Manager at Crusader Insurance in 1985, Technical Controller at Alliance General Insurance 1990 and Managing Director at Silvertrust Brokers Limited in 1991 until 2011 when he became the Chief of Staff to the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola.

Oyetola has been a major stakeholder in many big companies, including a multi-billion naira entity, Paragon Holding Limited which he served as its executive Vice-Chairman from 2005 to 2011.

Paragon Holding Limited is a Pan-African conglomerate with vast interests in strategic sectors of the economy in Africa. The company is involved in power transmission and power generation, transport, shipping & marine, solid minerals management, infrastructural development, hospitality & tourism, oil & gas, financial services, etc, etc.

The group has been involved in developments of Regal Seaview Estate, Glover Road Estate, Pearlstone Towers, Osapa Lekki Shopping Mall, among others.

Regal Seaview is a mixed luxurious estate built on a 10.15 hectares of land, consisting a 5-star hotel, residential/commercial properties and fifty-two (52) terraced houses bordering the Atlantic Ocean.

The Glover Road Ikoyi project consists of two blocks of luxurious apartments with thirty-two(32) three bedroom luxury flats and ten penthouses, swimming pool, squash court and a gym.

The Pearlstone Towers is an ongoing 15-storey complex at Victoria Island with ten floors of open plan office, a penthouse floor, five floors for parking and four elevators.

Osapa Lekki Shopping Mall has a 12,801sqm letting space for offices and supermarkets.

Gboyega Oyetola is married to a 61yo printing technology graduate of Yabatech, Kafayat Oyetola and the marriage is blessed with children.

Kafayat previously was a paste-up Artist for Concord Press, Lithographer for The Literamed Publication, Estimator for The Guardian newspaper and Production Manager for Ibukunoluwa Prints. She is a successful professional printer and Patroness of the printers association in the country.

Written by: Adebayo Adedeji.

https://infotrustng.com/osun-economic-possibilities/

Osun at 30: economic possibilities amidst 2022 plebiscite

By Adebayo Adedeji

The activities commemorating the Creation Day of Osun State climaxed last Wednesday with a state banquet and award ceremony for distinguished citizens and friends of the state whose " phenomenal contributions in the various fields of endeavour, " in the expression of Dr Charles Akinola, Governor Oyetola's Chief of Staff, "have made Osun of our founding father's dream."

28 persons received awards in various categories. The honourees included the first military administrator of the state, Leo Ajiborisa; the first civilian Governor of the state in this Republic Chief Bisi Akande, his successor Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Pastor Enoch Adeboye and former health minister, Professor Isaac Adewole. The first civilian governor of the state, late Isiaka Adeleke, was singled out for recognition with a one-minute silence in his honour.

One of the high points of the event was when Oyetola decorated all the former military administrators of the state; while Prince Oyinlola took turn to decorate him in equal breath.

This year's anniversary is an auspicious and a defining moment to celebrate the resilience of the people of the state, broadcast the storied events of recent past and catalogue milestones recorded so far.

As part of the celebration, on September 9, an anniversary colloquium fielding high-profile resource persons was held in Osogbo, the state capital. In attendance were the former state Governor, Chief Bisi Akande; Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa'ad Abubakar; former Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, Babajide Kolade-otitoju, among others.

Each of the speakers took turn to discuss the developmental strides in the state and proffer suggestions for attaining greater heights.

The occasion was also a moment to salute the exemplary leadership provided by Governor Gboyega Oyetola which advented at a time finance of the state was lying prostrate on the account of reduced federal allocation occasioned by deductions on debt owed by previous governments.

According to the Sultan of Sokoto, Governor Oyetola, whom he claimed he had followed closely since his assumption of office, was a deep thinker and a silent reformer and performer, who came into government with Development Agenda hinged on adequate, quality and equitable service in all sectors. In his words, " Governor Oyetola has also introduced people-oriented policies based on inclusive governance and sustainable development."

Similarly in the opinion of the ace journalist and awarding winning commentator, Babajide Kolade-otitoju, Oyetola, nothwithstanding the little resources had done the unthinkable by building inner city roads and bridging the infrastructural deficit in the state. " Some of us, " Kolade-otitoju addressing the governor, "didn't expect what you have done. We thought it would be more difficult."

On the sideline of the colloquium, Reuben Abati, who said he reluctantly participated in a physical tour of projects done by the Oyetola led government, noted that he saw in Osun State, an unusual level of commitment to infrastructure development . According to Abati, "From Alekuwodo in Osogbo, to the Olaiya flyover Bridge at the centre of the town (which the Governor said was prompted by an accident scene that he witnessed and on the spot decided to address the problem), to the newly rehabilitated Osogbo- Kelebe-Iragbiji road, Ada to Igbajo, Ikirun to Eko Ende and other roads in the state, the Oyetola touch was evident. We visited the Osogbo General Hospital, now being reinvented and expanded."

Abati also acknowledged the effort of the governor in the area of mining. He made a reference to a Memorandum of Understanding between the present administration in the state and a company called Badger Mines which was signed in 2019. Abati reported that the physical inspection took him to Badger Mines in Osu where the company is working on 73 exploration belts where gold between 200-300 metres have been found. According to Abati, the company's CEO and his officials, during the tour of the mine, took the excursionists through the gold refining process where high grade technology was deployed and a 25kg good bar worth about 120,000 dollars was produced in their presence.

Abati announced he experienced, first hand, the genuine love the people of the state had for their Governor. Matter-of-factly, no one would do as much as what the Governor has done in the last three years and would not be soundly loved by the people. Since his inauguration 33 months ago, Oyetola has defrayed N67 billion from the almost N200 billion debt left behind for him by his predecessor. The N67 billion repayment is what would have been injected into the economy of the state. Nonetheless, he continues to chart a new, prosperous course for the state hitherto known with a pejorative description of a civil service state. The government has also devoted over N150 billion to resolve pension and salary obligations without giving room for policy redundancy. The government spending which used to be hugely tilted towards personnel payment is now inclined towards capital project and social programme financing. The salutory commitment of the governor to the well-being of the people is one of the reasons the enamoured disposition is always freely given to him. This is the mood the celebrated ideologue, Abati, captured in his write-up.

In the same vein, the Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian newspaper, Martins Oloja, devoted his Sunday's Inside Stuff column of September 26, 2021 to chronicle the mining revolution going on in Osun State . In his opinion entitled " Oyetola: A Governor to Copy on Federalism" went memory lane on how mining project began in the state. Oloja enthused, ". . . . there are more to learn from Governor Oyetola who is immersed in the power of his silence. He has laid a very solid foundation for ‘fiscal federalism’ that has been a recent bone of contention between Rivers State and the Federal Government. The state has built upon a solid economic foundation laid by a former Governor of the State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

As it has been reported, in 2006, former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola got the very poor Osun State to register a solid minerals exploration and mining company named Livingspring Minerals Promotion Company Limited. With that company, the state bid for, won, paid and got ten solid minerals exploration licences and seven mining licences from the Federal Government. Seven of the exploration licences are for Gold fields in Osun and in two far northern states; two of the licences are for Lead and Zinc exploration in identified fields in Eastern Nigeria and in a north central state. The tenth exploration licence is for Feldspar and Quartz, Marble and Granite Gneiss exploration in a north central state covering an area of 200 square kilometers. Three of the mining licences are for Gold mining in Osun State while the remaining four are for Feldspar and Quartz in the north – all covering 233 square kilometers.

It is on this critical infrastructure that Governor Oyetola is building solid superstructure for fiscal federalism.

. . . the Oyetola government has assembled a revival dream for the Osun Gold mines while most of his colleagues are beating drums of war over federalism. Specifically, the state-owned company, in partnership with an investor, has established what we can rightly tag as Nigeria’s first gold refinery.

I was one of those who saw the multi-billion naira gold refinery recently. And the solid minerals sector and other stakeholders including governors most of whom have mineral resources in their states have many reasons to borrow from the brilliance that has emerged in Osun State. The local refinery company has assembled very skilled and educated miners from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Germany. The German team leader has two doctorate degrees in mining relevant disciplines.

So, instead of lamenting, the Osun State Governor is determined to change the Osun Narrative through diversification efforts in four key sectors: Agriculture, Culture and Tourism, and Mining (ATM).
The administration set out seven project streams in Osun Minerals Development Plan. In two years, the results are showing:
Commercialisation of the assets: the administration has executed agreements with Badger Mines & Pan Arabian Mines. Both firms have almost concluded their exploration campaign and will declare the commercial valuation soon.

The Oyetola administration has delivered the first Gold Refinery in Nigeria- to be commissioned soon. It’s to be christened Omoluabi - Badger Commercial Buying and Refining Centre (CBRC), Osu .

Besides, the government has concluded the resource valuation of its assets in Kogi state. This was carried out by the minerals valuation group of South Africa and partners from the UAE will set up a world class mine and quarry for Osun’s asset in Kogi anytime soon. The administration has also set up Mineral Resources and Environmental Management Committee (MIREMCO) to regulate mining activities in the state.

For security of the assets, Osun state has set up a JTF to handle the security in the resource-rich areas. It has also set up an RFID enabled database and has captured over 13,000 miners awaiting the finalisation of the partnership with the PAGMI - presidential artisanal gold mining initiative.

Accordingly, this initiative will encourage the local miners and buy off whatever they (local miners) produce locally. This is a sure source of employment. This is how ‘federalism’ can work for the common good. "

If the foregoing, a seeming testimonial on a governor working silently and assiduously to archive his name in the Hall of Fame, is a tacit endorsement of Governor Oyetola's commitment to sustainable economy of the state which deserves support of every citizen of the state, Abati's explainer is an open backing for Oyetola's re-election. He didn't hide his admiration for the governor well positioned to take the people from economic abyss; same way Dr Festus Adedayo, a popular polemist, in his syndicated opinion piece " My Osun State Story," declared his soft spot for the incumbent. Abati remarked that during his trip to Osu, which he undertook alongside Oyetola, everywhere they went, the Governor was received by crowds chanting "Leekan si, 4 plus 4." He, however, admonished Oyetola, whom he described as a "man of few words and quiet mien" and who seemed to be more interested in development, job creation, making sure salaries were paid, to put up a serious fight to achieve his re-election bid because there is no way one would build a gold refinery and not expect his political adversaries not to court the venture. To him, " . . . the moment Osun State begins to talk about its gold refinery, its future elections could become war by another name. Everyone would struggle to lay their hands on the gold." He wanted Governor Oyetola to finish the good work he started.

Abati's submission is no different from the agreed opinion of many citizens of the state who affirm Oyetola has performed creditably and thus deserves a re-election in grandstyle. One good turn, they say, deserves another.

Osun finance and excitement of economy revisionists By Adebayo Adedeji

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Osun finance and excitement of economy revisionists

By Adebayo Adedeji

In recent times, a number of Rauf Aregbesola's lieutenants have been falling over themselves to rewrite history of how Osun debt leaped from N15 billion in 2010, when their principal, Aregbesola, took the mantle of authority, and to almost N200 billion when he exited the government in 2018. Some of the interventions are the same jaded and vacuous rhetorics the unsuspecting citizens have been fed with for years. The revision started with Kolapo Alimi, ex-commissioner in charge of local government. It was followed by Sikiru Ayedun, another commissioner in Aregbesola government. The claims of these two politicians have not only been found tainted, misleading and spurious, they have also been found mendacious and seditious. They are capable of provoking the citizens to revolt against the government. The address of Dr Adewale Bolorunduro, spanning over 30 minutes, during the general meeting of a rebel group in the governing All Progressives Congress, is the most disturbing of all. Disturbing not because of the disclosure. Not at all. Any faithful reader of Bolorunduro would not found his commentary new. They are mere rehash of his constant commentaries on Osun finance on his social media pages. However, his current intervention is disturbing because it gravitates towards personally attacking his successor in office, Bola Oyebamiji, a man of friendly mien who silently does his job without paparazzi and media embracement. Dr Bolorunduro, who I am aware Oyebamiji holds in great respect, chose to deride the person of the current commissioner for finance and with unexpected phillipic question his professional competence. Going personally when public policies are discussed should not be the appropriate style to be institutionalised in the public discourse. Political leaders should do well to moderate their emotion in order not to impair amity.

Having said that, the concerns raised by the amiable engineer and banker, who recently declared his support for the rebellious Osun progressives group owned by Aregbesola, are to be looked into.

His remarks are slanted, speculative and aimed at diminishing the good work of the present government led by Governor Oyetola. Whereas, the state internally generated revenue has improved substantially under current government, the state equally undertakes additional responsibilities which demand financial commitment. This is against the claim of Bolorunduro. One of these fresh responsibilities is the Osun Food Support Scheme launched early this year. The scheme provides food items for 30,000 vulnerable citizens monthly. 160,000 citizens have so far been covered and serviced.

Again, since last November, the N30,000 new minimum wage, from N19,001 old wage, has been implemented in the state and commensurate adjustments have been done to emoluments of workers in other cadres. This feat, which the labour unions have described as demonstration of Governor Oyetola's commitment to their well-being, comes at a great price to the state finance.

The mandatory group life insurance for workers is also one of the welfarist programmes introduced by the current government that stretches its finance. Osun State is one of the few states that have complied with the law on group life insurance for workers.

The state finance again contends with bill arising from the Osun Health Insurance Scheme. To make the health delivery service in the state a comprehensive one, the Gboyega Oyetola led government inaugurated a new Osun Health Insurance Scheme with an initial grant of N150 Million and an addition of N477 Million equity grant to fund the Vulnerable Programme of the health scheme. The vulnerable population, numbering 24,712 across the senatorial districts in the state, have been enrolled in the scheme and have, since November 2020, been receiving free medical services in the no fewer than 86 accredited (private and public) healthcare facilities in the state. So on what basis did Bolorunduro postulate that the previous government had more financial commitment than the current government? Did Bolorunduro even consider the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has stretched the finance of the state to the limits? At the height of the pandemic, the government of Osun State made special allocations to provide health facilities and palliatives to the people. The completion of the multi-million infectious diseases diagnostic laboratory in the state university in Osogbo is an ennobled reference to how Oyetola was responsive and creative to fight a pandemic which humbled the best of mankind.

Contrary to insinuations created by Bolorunduro in his address at the referenced meeting about cessation of O'YES and O' Meal in the state, the programmes are still up and running in the current dispensation. In November 2019, no fewer than 2100 O' Meal food vendors were inaugurated by the state government. And plan is also in top gear to commence fresh recruitment into O'Yes Scheme.

Nothwithstanding the disadvantage the State suffers on the account of heavy deductions occasioned by debt owed by the previous government, Osun is doing more because the government has elected to spend its scarce resources on projects that would give value for money. Projects are undertaken based on the Citizen Needs Assessment, a World Bank scientific document, and not based on whims and caprices.

Since inauguration in November 2018, the government of Oyetola has lost N67 billion as a result of debt repayment --- N67 billion that would have been invested in the infrastructure and social engineering revolution going on in the state.

Amidst the financial challenges, as well, the state government in just 33 months of Oyetola at the helms of affairs has released over N150 billion to settle salary and pension commitment. In comparison, it took the previous government 48 months, from 2010-2014, to pay N130 billion to settle the pension and salary bill.

The previous government also had the financial buffers of N42 billion Paris Club refund to cushion the effect of whatever challenges it might have encountered. The refund was given to the state in four tranches. Paris Club refund is a partial settlement of long-standing claims by state governments relating to over-deductions from their Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) payments for external debt service between 1995 and 2002. The funds were released to state governments as part of the wider efforts to stimulate the economy and were specifically designed to support states in meeting salary and other obligations, thereby alleviating the challenges faced by workers. The releases were conditional upon a minimum per cent being applied to the payment of workers’ salaries and pensions. Unfortunately, Doctor Adewale Bolorunduro wilfully left out the narrative in his address and delved into realm of speculation when he curated imaginary figures of what the state would have benefited, for instance, from savings from temporary suspension of deductions from the federal allocation and its equity in the Living Trust Mortgage Bank.

" A social affairs commentator is respected not only because of the elevation of his language and enchantement of his scholarship, but respected because of the sanctity and integrity of his data and relevance of the context in which the data is deployed. When these conditions are not met, the commentator's credentials as a genuine and sincere interventionist are shaded and cast in doubts and eternal opprobrium."

Emptiness of the eclipsing Cuban socialist.

By Ogedengbe Agbogungboro

During childhood, we were regaled with folktales about pig. One of the most popularly told of these tales is one adapted from the Meghalaya. It is between a tiger and a pig. The tiger after a sumptuos meal had gone to a river to drink water to step it down. There he found a pig equally drinking at the river. However, he could not drink because the pig had polluted the water with his foul smell. The tiger left only for the pig to run after him, thinking tiger could not drink at the pool out of fear of him, pig.

Suddenly feeling as strong as an elephant, the pig challenged the tiger to a fight. They fixed a date for the combat. To surmount the challenge, the pig's grandfather hastily worked out a plan to save him.

On the day of the big bout, the pig rolled out in the mud and in elephant's dung and in all the other rubbish he could find. When the tiger sighted him, he stepped back in disgust because the pig was stinking. He could not stand the pig's smell. So tactically, he withdrew from the challenge.

The pig and family and friends realised that being dirty was good for them, so they made wallowing in the mud their pastime. And they continue to do so to this day.

What does the tale teach us?

It teaches us never to go to a brawl with pigs and other beings associated with dirtyness and shamelessness. Siddon look. Do not join a foolish man in the fray for he will overhelm you with his foolishness. This, to me, should be a classic way to handle the country's current Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, a man nauseatingly propelled by hate, envy and pride. He has become so an irritant that only men of low prestige in his abhorable class could tolerate him

Some two days ago, without any provocation from the current Osun governor, Rauf Aregbesola had sent his rottweilers and intellectually impoverished devotees to hurl stinkers on the calm but calculative governor. Their intention was possibly to force words out of the mouth of the amiable governor and relegate him to their abysmal and unfortunate pedestal.

In their new uninspiring write-up, they called out the governor and made fruitless efforts to link him with the failings and failures of the Ogbeni's disgraceful administration.

Seriously, Aregbesola should be advised to gracefully own up to his inadequacies, and romanticise whatever achievement he feels his government recorded between 2010 - 2018.

He should be told that the more the Raufists try to call out his successor and portray him in bad light, the more they impugn his (Rauf's) integrity and the perfidious government he ran. Rauf Aregbesola and Gboyega Oyetola, it must be accentuated, are class apart. Aregbesola was a destroyer. Oyetola is a restorer. Aregbesola was a debtor and a brand eroder. Oyetola is bringing credit to the state. While Aregbesola left humongous debts for the state, Oyetola is busy clearing the debts owed by a fake Fidel Castrolist.

As at the time the ignominious government of Rauf Aregbesola eclipsed in Osun State, the state, according to the records obtained from the Debt Management Office of Nigeria, was in the debts of 142 Billion Naira ( Internal debt) and 102 Million United States Dollars (external debt). These debts did not include the 30 months salary and pension arrears he left for Governor Oyetola. It did not also include the contractual obligations of over 30 Billion Naira his government failed to fulfil to road project contractors. But today, with the masterly intervention of the economic wizard at the helm of affairs in the state, the debts are daily brought down. As at September and June 2020, the state's internal debt has been reduced to 130 Billion Naira and 90 Million United States Dollars respectively. The state equally has paid as much as 30 Billion Naira in resolving lingering pension and gratuity issues. The wicked modulated salary policy ( also known as half-salary) which Rauf Aregbesola's government incubated and experimented throughout his second term in office has become a history in the state because workers and pensioners now receive their full entitlements as and when due. Courtesy of Oyetola.

Oyetola, today, does not bother himself about how to pay worker's salary as Aregbesola found it difficult in his time. That, by God's grace, has been handled by his upwardly mobile economic team. He has devised a workable template that would continually place the state among the league of economically viable states. He is only encumbered by the mindless huge debts left behind by a man who has today become a butt of joke in the country. Aregbesola was and is still a symbol for mindless debt owing, half-salary payment in the country.

Whereas a decent man, who perhaps for a reason of error of commission or omission, has found himself in an unfortunate situation Aregbesola found himself, would have continued to mouth his humble pie, maintain a low profile life and reconcile himself with his Creator; regrettably, the grotesque minister of the Federal Republic continues to throw himself around like a pig with no shame.

He not only wants to always claim the glory of the successes achieved by the current government, he also wants the governor to be seen in his shadow.

Rauf Aregbesola does not want to be held accountable for all his failings in government. He does not want any one to mention the reality of his government leaving a terribly broke and insolvent state for his successor where, for every 100 Naira shared to the Osun State government as revenue allocation from the federation account, 91 Naira is deducted to service debt owed by the reckless government he led.

BudgiT, ( a technology based transparency and accountability organisation), in their report titled " State of States: an analysis on states domestic and external debt" published in October 2017 had claimed that Osun's debt situation was worrisome. The organisation chided the state government supervised by the bogus socialist for obtaining loans for projects that did not add or improve the Internally Generated Revenue of the state for the seamless refund of the loans.

The organisation claimed, among other things, that " the State received 123 Billion Naira in bailout funds -- the biggest in contemporary Nigeria history."

According to them, " Osun's spending plan over the years came with the borrowing of 18 Billion Naira to build six mini-stadia to amuse. . . its youthful population."

Despite the economic crunch, the self-styled welfarist-socialist Aregbesola continued to waste the meagre state resources on frivolities and activities that would burnish only his personal ego. Tales have been told of how he recruited 450 unofficial special assistants, largely from Alimosho, Lagos -- his political base -- to chorus the imaginary achievements of the government he supritended. The refusal of the current governor to shoulder the responsibility and welfare of these unproductive characters actually roughened the feathers of the refrigerator-technician who came to Osun with a lot of goodwill, having manned the works ministry in a state reputed for its acquatic splendour.

If Aregbesola and his hallelujah boys have got any shame in them, they would have come to terms with political reality of today -- reality that the good people of Osun have rejected them for their lacklustre performance in government and that Governor Gboyega Oyetola is now the starboy -- the starboy that is changing the negative narrative created about Osun by the obtuse, jejune, devious and unpatriotic government they ran in the state.

What more evidence does one need again to validate the fact that Rauf Aregbesola and his coteries are yesterday's men? What more evidence does one need to prove that Heaven and the people of Osun have rejected them? As soon as they began to handle with wicked policy of half-salary and mismanagement of people's wealth, the people told them in clear terms they were rejected. In the by-election held in Ife Central in 2016, the people rejected APC. Likewise in 2017, the party was rejected in a by-election in Osun west. And it was by the whiskers the governorship came the party's way in 2018. It was almost over for the party in the gubernatorial contest that year if not for the political sagacity of the party stalwarts who turned the tide around. In the election, against natural expectation, the angry civil servants and pensioners -- whose Aregbesola's policies had driven into penury, hopelessness and depression -- chose to support an intellectually barren candidate of the PDP as against a boardroom guru that the APC presented. It took the personal charisma of Oyetola and men of good conscience to deliver the state to the party.

What further evidence does one need again that Aregbesola is now a political featherweight -- who must force respect and seek attention to confirm his relevance and usefulness -- than the reality that the senator representing Aregbesola in the Senate is a member of the opposition PDP!

What further evidence does one need to pointificate that Aregbesola is now a political orphan who must lash on any situation, including commissioning eternally cretinous loafers to distract a governor who is on rescue mission to cleanse the pigsty to which the State of the Living Spring was turned by him and his grossly incompetent yes-men.

Message: Whether they like it or not, by the special grace of God, Gboyega Oyetola still has the people's mandate up till November 27, 2022 -- in the first instance. And if it is the wish of the people of Osun to renew the mandate, no man born of a woman -- including the boastful Aregbesola and his chains of idlers -- can stop it.