Aregbesola: Hypocrisy Of A Pretentious Revolutionary

AYOTUNDE RASHEED 

“Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you.”

The way Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has continued to demonstrate all manners of inconsistencies with his actions and utterances is quite worrisome. He took it to a higher level by his recent comment on the state of the nation. His speech reeks of hypocrisy that is not in the least expected of a supposed elder-statesman. Or should we just conclude that he’s trying to lead a revolution against the state?

“When I was born, and during my developmental years, wealth was not as limited to the hands of a very few people as it is today” This particular statement he made showed how shameless he can be. A man with no cognate experience in any field or known business anywhere that became wealthy can’t be more guilty of what he’s accusing others for. The man should tell us what he was doing before 1999 and how much he was worth then in comparison with how much he and his immediate family members are worth today.

The same man that ran the Osun State aground is today talking about building prosperity for the people. A man that initiated half salary as Governor that led to the impoverishing civil servants and pensioners in Osun. Is it not laughable how hypocritical he is? He left the state in total state of despair with the state languishing in all the debts he incurred till today.

He didn’t only fail in the critical sectors of our economy, he wasted Osun money on many white elephant projects. The park he built in Gbongan was made useless the same with the flyover he constructed by himself. He was so bereft of ideas in the agricultural sector that he had to travel to foreign countries to source for ideas, which eventually led to no result. Maybe he should tell us what he achieved in Osun in the area of food security.

The Opon Imo project, a tablet for secondary school students he did remains one of the biggest scams in the history of the state. The computer left the state before he left the state in 2018. How much of prosperity would the money wasted on such project could have built for the common man? He wasted the opportunity to drive the economy of the state to an enviable level. Perhaps we should just ask him to name just one major company or industry that entered the state in the 8 inglorious years of his administration.

As the Interior Minister, the number of jailbreaks under his nose was enough for an honourable man to resign. He didn’t only finish the administration with President Buhari, he was seen arranging several welcome back parties for himself, shameful! The young man that succeeded him was able to clear the mess around passport issuance in a matter of weeks. Instead of admitting failure and commending the good job, he’s offering advice he could have used while in office.

“I am opposed to executive system of government, I believe in collective arrangement, which parliamentary system guarantees as best for a nation like Nigeria if indeed we’re committed to advancing the interests of the large population and mass of our people”. Has this man forgotten that all his years in the public office have been in the executive? He was commissioner twice in Lagos, two term Governor and a Minister of the Federal Republic for four years.

It’s high time this man kept quiet and focused on how to revive his lost political relevance rather than jumping on a futile endavour of trying to incite violence. Nigerians are wise and are obviously wiser than him.

– Rasheed writes from Arikalamu Compound, Osogbo, Osun State.