Osun State Governor-Elect, Rauf Aregbesola
Governor of Osun State, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, in his maiden news conference in Osogbo, unfolds the agenda of his administration. TUNDE ODESOLA was there.
What’s your reaction to the allegation that some brand-new cars were driven out of the Government House immediately the Appeal Court in Ibadan pronounced you as governor of Osun State?
There is a record for all government vehicles. I believe that the system is capable of fishing out such an anomaly if it ever occurred. I emphatically ordered that accounts at all levels of government be frozen and this order dates back to six months before I was pronounced governor. This is not a witch-hunt but for us to know the state of our finances.
I will follow the rule of law and the constitution of the country to the letter. I will ensure extreme fidelity in the matter without fear or favour. We will seek legal advice.
What’s your view on the N18.3bn loan collected by the Oyinlola government a few months before the sudden end?
Our party has faulted the collection of N18.3 billion loan by the ousted government. Although the PDP was wrong to have collected the loan because it lacked legitimacy arising from the fact that it was never voted for by the masses in the April 14, 2007 general election, we will look dispassionately into the circumstances surrounding the loan. We will be very fair to all.
How do you feel with the tumultuous welcome you received at your inauguration?
I feel great and grateful to the people of Osun State for the love, honour and dignity accorded my party and me. I was moved by their outpouring of love. Osogbo has never witnessed such a large turnout of people in its history. What money do I have to give to these teeming supporters who follow me anywhere I go in Osun? It is not about money. It is not about oration. The love and support I enjoy is simply indescribable and I believe the attribute to attract people to myself is God-given. They have been faithful to me and I will repay their faith in me with hard work, dedication, service and integrity. When Oyinlola was a Military Administrator in Lagos, I was a mere engineer in a hotel in Lagos. My emergence as governor is an act of God’s grace. It’s an act of God’s willingness to liberate Osun. The ousted Oyinlola regime was very powerful and it wasn’t my ability or power that ousted the government; it was an act of God. I am going to leave the office in a blaze of ovation and honour. This is God’s gift. It’s not our wisdom and not our competence. It was God that used the judiciary to save Osun and restore the people’s mandate in order for Osun State to move forward. I enjoin our people not to take to violence because vengeance belongs to God. Anyone, who goes out to precipitate violence, is an enemy of this struggle and mandate. Security operatives should take note of this and arrest anyone who precipitates violence in the state. It is a source of pain that a pocket of hoodlums is going about provoking crisis in order to retaliate some of the injustices we have suffered. It is not our resistance of the oppression that gave us the victory but it was God, who influenced the minds of our courageous judges. It will be a great disservice to God and man if we take the laws into our hands. Since November 26, 2010, when I took oath of office, I have ceased to be a partisan politician. I am no longer an ACN governor, I am Governor of Osun; governor of PDP; governor of all political parties in the state; governor of Christians, Muslims, traditional worshippers and unbelievers; I will be fair to all. I will surpass Oyinlola’s seven and a half years in just one year. I will make Osun the best state government in Africa. I will change the perception that the fate of the black man is only about poverty, calamities, backwardness and ignorance. We shall follow the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s model of development as enunciated in his book, “The Republic,” in order to engender freedom, peace, development, happiness and life more abundant to the citizenry.
How much did you incur in legal fees charged by your lawyers during the trial?
We have settled all our legal accounts. I have no financial debt. Goodwill came from all the corners of Nigeria and all over the world. All through the trial, people were willing to help and I had goodwill in gifts and money from all over the world because people believed in the change we promised.
The Oyinlola government had always budgeted funds for the proposed airport but it never got off the ground. Are you going to probe the project and others like the drug manufacturing firm, Free Trade Zone and several road contracts?
I will ensure that Osun has its own international airport. On the issue of various projects, we shall look at what we have on ground and see how we can improve on them. We will look at development in its totality.
Parents have been complaining about the high school fees charged by UNIOSUN while students of LAUTECH and the five state-owned schools have also been complaining of increased fees. Is your government going to scale down the fees?
I will consult with the elders of the two states on ways to solve the crisis which stalled academic activities in LAUTECH. The position of former President Olusegun Obasanjo (who advised that the two states should discontinue with the joint ownership) on the issue is irresponsible, mischievous and wicked. If Oyo wants a state university, let it go and establish one. Oyo and Osun are the same. The Yorubas everywhere are one. LAUTECH is a routine administration definition and we must not delineate ourselves on the basis of bureaucracy.”
LAUTECH is the joint heritage of both Osun and Oyo state and as God lives, it will remain so. LAUTECH students are being denied their inalienable right to education on the platform of intra party and selfish politics. UNIOSUN is an elitist school. What’s the propriety of having a school that a permanent secretary, who is not dubious, cannot send his child? We shall overhaul the education sector.
What are your programmes?
The book, The Republic, by the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, will be our Bible. It promises freedom for all and life more abundant. In 180 days, Osun will witness massive transformation. We are going to recreate the government of Awolowo in the state with an overall aim of interlinking states in the south-west for progress and development.
Why did you predict that you were going to be sworn-in as governor in November 2010?
I am very close to God. I am not clairvoyant but I believe in God and in his powers. When it was obvious that I was leading and was going to emerge as governor on April 14, 2007, an oba in the state, whose name I won’t disclose, sent text messages across to PDP chieftains and warned them that I must be stopped by all means. It was at this point that the PDP government rolled out its arms and ammunition against our people and began violence at the poll, shooting, maiming and stealing ballot boxes. Where I was leading, they forced their ways in and snatched ballot boxes. In some other booths, they chased our people away. It was in polling centres in the big towns and cities, where people put up resistance and defended their votes that they recorded victory for the ACN. Even the PDP knows that I won the April 14, 2007 election by all standards.
Source:http://www.punchng.com/
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