By  ISIAKA A. ADELEKE

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LET  me say that divine providence, coupled with very selfless urge to serve the people, primarily informed my incursion, as they would say into, “the murky water” of politics. But at the same time, I must emphasise that politics in itself, flows in my family. My paternal grandmother, Madam Adeboyin was one of the outstanding  Iyalodes that Edeland produced. Vibrant and effervescent. She begot my father, late Balogun of Edeland and a Senator in the Second Republic, Papa Raji Ayoola Adeleke of blessed memory. I believe in part, that the continuity to serve the people, was reinforced by the past activities of my illustrious lineage.
As at 1989, I saw the need to join the foray to participate actively in the politics of old Oyo State, out of which Osun State was later carved out. My University days in America, witnessed student union activities, which  have become part and parcel of me. I took the plunge and was determined to prove my mettle, though I was the youngest of all the contestants, when we had the like of Late Chief Kolapo Isola, Haruna Elewi, Chief Oderinu, Hon ‘Dosu Ladipo among others.
I travelled the length and breadth of old Oyo State, making overtures to the electorate an to my intention to serve them. Thank God, that even as at today, I have friends in far-flung areas like Ago Are, Ago-Amodu, Tede, Shaki, Oke-Iho, Eruwa, Iganna. We still relate very well up till today. They were at my 60th birthday ceremony in 2015 out of established affection.
When eventually Osun State was created, the job became a lot easier, as I had fewer places to touch in campaigning for the governorship race. Osun is a well knit state, with clusters of towns. Hence, campaigning was a bit easier. The primaries took place under the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) and by God’s grace, I won the general election and became the first elected executive Governor of Osun State on January 2, 1992, at a memorable occasion held at Osogbo township stadium.
As for my blueprint, when I assumed office as the governor in 1992, the priority was to get the staff deployed from old Oyo State to settle down to work, because the bedrock of any administration is her human resources. Hence, we were determined to make the new state grow in leaps and bounds. We made efforts to give the civil servants all the encouragement necessary, though accommodation posed a lot of problems. But we succeded in laying a solid foundation. And Osun today can  boast of one of the best civil service in the federation.
One important lesson which our government learnt from the past development plans in Nigeria is the inadequate co-ordination and integration between physical plan and economic development plans itself. We discovered early enough in the life of our administration, that Osun State is highly urbanized and the conglomeration of the satellite towns was used to an advantage. The government I led, went ahead and built a state capital, that was functional and beautiful. A Capital Territory Development Authority was established for the planning and development of the 40,000 hectares of land designated as the Osun State Capital Territory.
A master plan was worked out by our administration, through which, areas were marked out for development into residential, industrial, agricultural and forestry purposes. In pursuit of the urban renewal programme of our administration between 1992 and 1993, the first thing we did, was to build a ring road (that is today called Oba Adesoji Aderemi Road), to remove the flow of traffic from the inner city to ease passage of commuters coming from Ikirun, Iwo, Ilobu, Halleluyah and Dada Estate and going to Ile-Ife and beyond.
We also built the Isiaka Adeleke Freeway, to ease traffic flow for people going from Oke-fia axis to Ilesa road, through Odi-Olowo, Asubiaro, Isale –Osun. To achieve this noble goal, I went to the World Bank in Washington, and obtained a loan with which we started the Ring Road project now Oba Adesoji Aderemi Way.
Through the same World Bank loan, our administration was also able to open up the Ojo-Ara-Ejigbo road, Apomu-Orile Owu among others. I am happy, that the roads under reference were completed by succeeding administrations, thus opening up the areas to faster economic progress.
I was totally poised for a new era in Osun State, but the abrupt termination of our government by the late Abacha junta, brought an end to the realization of some of these goals. But I thank God that succeeding administrations also contributed immensely to the urbanization of towns in Osun State, particularly, the far-reaching urban renewal programmes being embarked upon by Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s government. It is my prayer, that he will see all his laudable projects to fruition for the benefit of the people at the grassroots.
As for the agitation for the creation of Osun State, I must commend the laudable roles of the founding fathers, of which my own father – Papa Raji Ayoola Adeleke, was one. Together with  the late Chief Kola Balogun of Otan Ayegbaju, they co-chaired meetings which were always held at my father’s house in Ede with Chief Tunji Abolade, as secretary and Chief Diran Fagbougbe, as publicity secretary, among other foremost traditional rulers and other eminent citizens. They fought tooth and nail against many odds, to see that Osun State was created by the administration of General Babangida (rtd). It was an herculean task, as so many innuendoes came up, among which was where the capital would be sited. But at the end of the day, sanity prevailed and Osogbo was chosen.
Senator Adeleke, is the first executive governor of Osun State.