OSUN POLICY REVERSAL: BETWEEN FACTS AND CONSPIRACY

Osun policy reversal is ignoring facts and promoting conspiracy. The policy reversal is ignoring Rauf Aregbesola developmental legacy in Osun for 8 years and promoting conspiracy against Aregbesola as Osun approaches 2022 governorship election. Osun policy reversal has failed because it has not be back-up by any meaningful project and it has no impact on the great people of Osun State. School children are attending schools built by Rauf Aregbesola and few people are talking about policy reversal without projects to back it up. The recent Osun government’s education and planned local government policy reversal are political decision. The present government in Osun did not campaign with education and local government administration reversal during the 2018 election but it campaigned with consolidation. Is Policy reversal Supporting projects of Sustainable development in Osun? Taking a fresh look at the inter-linkages between Osun policy reversal and projects of sustainable development, it is revealing that many paradoxes and inconsistencies exist. Osun policy reversal has failed to capture the aggregate projects of the general standard of living of the people in terms of access to education, health care, housing, security, potable water and high life expectancy etc . Osun policy reversal will not improve and to some extent will lead to deteriorated standard of living. Osun Policy reversal has become an issue of blackmail and smear campaign against Aregbesola’s legacy.

I look forward to the day that President Buhari will be invited to commission projects that have been executed under the Osun policy reversal whether in education or local government administration. Osun policy reversal must be matched by projects execution and I wonder whether President Buhari will be invited to Osun to commission policy reversal without a single project to show for it. I am surprise that there is no single project that is attached to policy reversal in Osun. I do not understand whether policy reversal will be a strategy to win Osun 2022 governorship election. Promoters of Osun policy reversal must match it with sustainable development projects.

What could have propelled a state rich in human capital in the last 10 years to prefer the choice of policy reversal over sustainable development projects since 2019? What could have precipitated the rejection of a manifesto-driven development in preference for “I will put smile on your faces” sloganeering?

The emerging smear campaign which is a clear copy of few people propaganda against the erstwhile Aregbesola administration is planned to unfold in stages between now and 2022 Osun governorship election with out-right character assassination photo-shopped pictures and condemnation of the former governor, and his programmes to whittle-down impact of his achievements by recruiting many unwary third-parties both in the media and even amongst pastors to act as cannon-fodders in furtherance of the lies discrediting the former governor.

The Coalition for Good Governance and Transparency, an association of democrats in South-South Nigeria who promote good governance and accountability rather than divisive political schemes and blackmail have condemned the new orchestrated campaign of calumny and smear tactics launched by a vicious few people like Hon Oluwole Oke who are amassing armada of falsehood, misinformation and fabrications aimed at discrediting the person, government and programme of the former governor of Osun State, His Excellency Rauf Aregbesola with a view to distorting and discrediting his widely acknowledge stellar performance in 8 years as governor of Osun State.

I wish therefore to advise those employing desperate antics of blackmail, and smear campaigns against Rauf Aregbesola, to have a rethink because their campaign would not change the stands of the good people of Osun State. I have been drawn to the antics of some few elements in the social media, employing desperate antics of blackmail, and smear campaigns against Aregbesola good and developmental legacy in Osun State. For his courage, consistence and never-say-die spirit, Aregbesola, would undoubtedly, have a tribe of hard critics, cynics and bitter foes. However, it is uncharitable to link him with ‘policy reversal’ and failure.

As a concerned democrat and a leader of organization which has the welfare of Osun state and its citizens at heart, the Coalition for Good Governance, extends an appeal to media practitioners to stand-fast and be counted as selfless gatekeepers and for the youths not to allow themselves to be used in promoting politics of hate and blackmail. We believe that the citizens of Osun deserve the right to know and determine the performance of their leaders without the amount of falsehood being spewed out online about our dear former state governor.

Recent blackmail, smear campaign won’t distract Aregbesola. The decision by the Osun State Government to introduce a bill against parliamentary system for local government administration in the state has sparked off controversy in Osun State. Policy reversal is a calculated attempt to blackmail former Governor Rauf Aregbesola and showed some people are jealous of Aregbesola’s achievements in Osun state in 8 years. Many people are aware of past and present developments in Osun state.

Policy reversal has deliberately resorted to cheap propaganda, mischief and blackmail to cause division between Osun people and Aregbesola.
This can only be part of the unrelenting campaign of calumny and the ceaseless peddling of pernicious propaganda against former Governor Aregbesola. Aregbesola’s preoccupation has been and continues to be how to develop Osun and deliver on his promised rescue Agenda to the good people of Osun when he came to office. And he has received applause and commendations from far and near for being so focused and unrelenting in the pursuit of his vision for the state. Aregbesola will not be distracted by any form of organised and orchestrated blackmail from any quarters, God willing; he will continue to deliver on his promises as minister of interior.

When Aregbesola was the governor of Osun State, only few people were ignorant of negative developments in the Nigerian economy which continued to face serious macroeconomic challenges and was in a recession for the first time in decades. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth for 2016 was estimated at -1.5%, with a moderate recovery expected in 2017. This is attributed to a series of shocks, including the continued decline in oil prices, foreign exchange shortages, disruptions in fuel supply and sharp reduction in oil production, power shortages, and insecurity in some parts of the country, as well as low capital budget execution rate (51%).