- Only opposition politicians are complaining – Osun gov
The Ijesa kinsmen of Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State have said that his over seven-year-old administration has not fetched them any tangible benefit.
The governor’s kinsmen, who bared their minds at a symposium organised by a stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Daniel Bankole Afilaka, in Ilesa, said they now regretted voting for Aregbesola in 2014.
Aregbesola represents more of a Lagos agenda
They claimed Ilesa, from which Aregbesola hails, had yet to experience any significant improvement, stressing that the living conditions of the Ijesa people had since worsened.
For Afilaka, Governor Aregbesola had disappointed the sons and daughters of Ijesaland as he had allegedly deprived them of the dividends of democracy.
He accused the governor of representing the people of Lagos State, adding that he had been using the wealth and resources of the state to benefit Lagosians.
Afilaka, therefore, said that in order to forestall a repeat of the alleged stagnancy of the Ijesa people under Aregbesola, the Ijesa community should exercise strict caution in selecting candidates for the coming elections in Osun.
Speaking further on the theme of the symposium: “Ijesa Agenda, 2019 and Beyond,” Afilaka, who is a former chairman of the Labour Party in the state, alleged that Aregbesola had rendered the state bankrupt in the last seven and half years of his administration.
He said he had warned the people of the state and the Ijesa community that Aregbesola would only represent and execute a Lagos agenda, maintaining that he had been vindicated.
“Aregbesola represents more of a Lagos agenda. He is not an Ijesa agenda. In the last eight years, Aregbesola has made Osun a bankrupt state. I have warned our people. Osun State is bankrupt today,” Afilaka said.
He further disclosed that efforts were on course to make Ijesa the financial hub of Osun State by bringing its sons and daughters together, regardless of their political differences.
“Our agenda is to make Ijesaland the financial capital of Osun State. Our agenda is how to move Ijesa forward, irrespective of political affiliation. 2018 would decide where we are going, and we are going to ensure that we put the right person in place come 2019. Aregbesola is one man, Ijesa is collective,” he said.
One of the discussants, Hon. Gbenga Fowowe, also claimed that Aregbesola had lost credibility in his hometown, saying that the people of Ijesa land would not support his future political ambition after his exit from the governorship position in the state.
He, therefore, advised the Ijesa people to register and collect their permanent voter’s cards to resist imposition of a Lagos agenda on the people.
“Ijesa should resist third agenda of the APC-led administration in Osun. The APC has imposed Lagos politicians on the people and he has spent two terms. We should not allow him anymore,” he said.
