Clement Adeyi, Osogbo
Osun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Adelani Baderinwa, has chided former president Goodluck Jonathan, for describing Governor Rauf Aregbesola as a failure, insisting that the governor remains the most successful governor the state ever got.
Baderinwa also said the governor had given adequate dividends of democracy to the people as well as infrastructure development that forms the basis of the state’s future greatness.
Baderinwa stated this, on Sunday, during the All Progressives Congress (APC) Ward 4 meeting, in Ikirun, in the state while reacting to a recent statement by media aide to Jonathan, Ikechukwu Eze, and quoted him as saying that Aregbesola should blame himself for running a failed government instead of blaming his (Jonathan) PDP-led administration.
Baderinwa said the purported statement by Jonathan was only a ploy to run down Aregbesola’s administration and maintained that Aregbesola had done creditably well in Osun State.
The commissioner stated that Governor Aregbesola had applied a high level intelligence and creativity in solving the problems of the state as expected of a committed administrator.
He noted that only a former president that failed woefully in the delivery of good governance would consider Aregbesola’s administration a failure.
He stated that Aregbesola’s performance and efforts had been well appreciated and acknowledged by reasonable people from across the world, as many accolades and honours had been poured on his administration in recent times.
“Only a supervisor of an administration that milked Nigeria dry and bastardised the economy can afford to say the kind of balderdash published recently concerning the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola,” Baderinwa said.
“It takes a former president who governed Nigerian in prosperity with nothing to show for it to assume that all public office holders are like him, and it is a sad commentary on the manner of personalities governing Nigeria.
“With the many credible organizations using scientific basis to acknowledge many programmes and projects carried out by the Aregbesola government as either the best or second best in the country, one wonders the state of mind and rationality of some people to have described Aregbesola’s government as a failure.
“Perhaps, reference to some of the well acknowledged and copied innovations of Aregbesola will put a lie to the irresponsible contention of former president Jonathan’s aide and his ilk.
“Osun was rated one of the five states in the lowest unemployment rate in Nigeria by the National Bureau of Statistics in 2013, second only to Niger State in the Poverty Index by the National Bureau of Statistics, ranked second in human Capital on Nigeria’s first sub-national competitiveness index released by the National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria.
“Osun has the lowest Poverty Index level according to Statistician General of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale in December 2017. The state ranked second richest state in Nigeria by the United Nations’ Multi Dimensional Poverty Index in 2017. In a recent United Nations publication, Osun came second after Lagos in the result of a national assessment for 2014 on infant and maternal healthcare delivery.
“Osun is 13th Most Safest State in Nigeria according to National Bureau of Statistics. In the data released by the NBS for its crime statistics for 2016, the state was ranked on the 13th position with an 0.94 index. This is just a few of the national and international commendation and appreciation of Aregbesola’s government.
“If the President Jonathan administration had not mismanaged the country’s resources, Aregbesola would have performed more excellently well because there would have been more resources to deliver good governance further.”