VOL. 10. NO.04 N50Thursday, jaNuary 29, 2015

www.osundefender.org T h E 5 T h M O s T - V I s I T E d N E W s -

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Front Page Comment“Look at what we did in Osun State. In Osun, we had the best election conducted so far; the best election we have conducted so far as a commission since 2011.”

Quote

• Quote from Professor Attahiru Jega’s interview in ThE GuardIaN of Wed. Oct. 29 (2nd part of a series that started on the 28th).

•Jega

- See Story On Page 2- Pg 2

•Mammoth crowd during the all Progressives Congress (aPC) presidential rally in Ondo State recently. INSeT: State of Osun governor, Ogbeni Rauf aregbesola (right), addressing the crowd; former aPC National Chairman, Chief Bisi akande; (2nd right); aPC National leader, asiwaju Bola Tinubu (3rd left); aPC presidential candidate, general Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) (2nd left) and his running mate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, during the aPC Presidential rally in akure, Ondo State, recently.

How Presidential Campaign Funds Tear Osun PDP Apart•Combatants Gani-Olaoluwa, Odeyemi, Shift Battle To Court

We are informing our esteemed numerous readers of our resolve to increase the cover price of OsuN dEFENdEr Newspaper from N50 to N100 with effect from next month.The new price regime is neces-sitated by increase in the cost of production.However, we are also assuring you of improved content of our publication both in quantity and quality.regards

hike In Cover Price Of OsuN dEFENdEr

Osun PDP Knocked Over Jubilation On Osun Tribunal’s Proceedings

Osun To Disburse N500m Loan To Farmers This Year

Election 2015: Electorate Commend CandidatesAs the presidential election campaign of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and the All Progressive Con-gress (APC) can

didates kicked off in Port-Harcourt and Lagos respectively, Nigerians have started to reactto the the level of expectations

from both candi-dates.Apart from that, reactions have also trailed the near disaster

Continue on pg5

2 OSuN DefeNDeR Thursday, january 29,

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News

•(L-R) State of Osun Deputy governor, Otunba (Mrs) grace Titi Laoye-Tomori; State of Osun governor , Ogbeni Rauf aregbesola; asalu of asipa, Chief Oyediran Julius;Baale fadekimi of asipa, alhaji Kamorudeen fagbemi; member, State of Osun House of assembly representing Ife-North State Constituency, Honourable Ipoola Binuyo and others at the land dispute reconciliatory meeting at the governor’s Office, government Secretariat, abere, State of Osun recently.

APC Candidate Engages Youths, Pledges Quality Representation By kEhINdE ayaNTuNjI

ThE all Progressives Congress (aPC) candidate for Ede south state Constituency, Mr Nureni adebisi, has pledged effective representation if elected into the

state house of assembly. According to him, virile and progressive legislature in any democracy is paramount

for the development of any society, thereby urging the people of the state to vote for APC in the February general elections.

The APC candidate stated this while engaging hundreds of youths in the council area at a special parley held on Saturday night.

According to him: “If am elected as a lawmaker by God’s grace, I have three cardinal programmes, which include constituency advocacy programmes, constituency d e v e l o p m e n t p r o j e c t partnership and effective representation.”

He assured the youths that as part of the advocacy programme, he would be meeting with the people of the constituency, especially youths, every 100 days, to discuss issues bordering on the development of the area, which would also serve as feedback mechanism.

Adebisi promised that he would embark on youths and women empowerment programmes that will make life more abundant for the people of the constituency and reduce poverty.

He therefore, urged the

people of the constituency to rally support for the party and ensure that the APC presidential candidate, General Mohammed Buhari (rtd), emerges winner, saying the current situation in the country requires the attention of all Nigerians.

He noted that the only way Nigeria can be rescued from the grip of insurgency in the Northern part of the country, unemployment, corruption and economic debacles, is for the APC to emerge winner during the February elections.

He then charged the people of the constituency and the entire Osun to redouble their efforts by educating others on the need to rescue the country from the PDP, saying the party had failed the country.

He therefore, called on all eligible voters, who are yet to collect their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVC) to do so in order to avert being disenfranchised.

T h e g a t h e r i n g h a d in attendance, the APC Chairman, Ede-South Local Government Council Area, Mr Oni Adebowale, Youth Leader, Comrade Abiodun A j u w o n , A l h a j i D a u d Akinloye and various youth

groups.Speaking on behalf of the

youths in the council area on the occasion, Adefemi Saheed-Ayorinde appreciated the APC candidate for organizing that interactive session, saying it

How Presidential Campaign Funds Tear Osun PDP Apart•Combatants Gani-Olaoluwa, Odeyemi, Shift Battle To CourtThE crisis rocking the state of Osun chapter of the

Peoples democratic Party (PdP) over presidential campaign funds is unabated as the two players in

the develoopment have vowed not to cease fire despite the intervention of some leaders of the party.

By Our rEPOrTEr

The state chairman of the party, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa and Mr Diran Odeyemi, the party’s Director of Publicity, have been slugging it out over the campaign funds for sometime now.

It was gathered that the N12.5million voted for mobilization of members of the party to the party’s

r a l ly when P res iden t Goodluck Jonathan carried his campaign train to Lagos recently was allegedly cornered by Gani-Olaoluwa who in his capacity as the chairman of the party in the state, gave a subtle directive to all the candidates of the party in the February 2015 general elections,

to mobilize individually their supporters to the PDP presidential rally in Lagos.

It was also learnt that some of the leading lights who knew about the money asked the chairman to settle them; an overture which was allegedly stoutly resisted by the chairman.

According to further investigation of OsuN dEFENdEr on the lingering crisis over funds in the Osun PDP, it was also alleged that during President Jonathan’s campaign at Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, Osogbo,

recently, the party chairman was alleged to have illegally taken over the function of the party’s publicity campaign committee and that the N22.5million voted for that crucial aspect of the presidential campaign never got to the desired media houses.

It was learnt that this was part of the reasons that it was only in Osun that President Jonathan’s campaign was not carried live on both state radio and television and NTA.

When the pressure was too much from some leaders

and members of the party in the state on the poor handling of the publicity aspect of the presidential campaign in the state, the state chairman was said to have released a paltry sum of N1.5million to the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Osogbo, to make the event a non-live package after the campaign had been held.

All the members of the state correspondents’ chapel and media executives of all the electronic media domiciled in the state who were all assured that the publicity fund was intact were all disappointed when the party chairman was said to have gone under about 24 hours to the event and none of them was given a dime.

The state Broadcasting Corporation which, all the while, was keeping vigil was also not left out in the state PDP disappointment saga.

If the poor publicity handling of the President’s campaign was responsible for the poor reportage of the event by the media, the preparation aspect of the security was a monumental disaster as the money meant for all heads of the statutory security outfits in the state did not get to them until the few hours to the event; at the end they were all shortchanged.

It was also gathered that the same party chairman al legedly hi jacked the functions of the security committee and it was only him who knew what was given to each of the heads of the security outfits who were all complaining after the event.

Credible sources disclosed to OsuN dEFENdEr that it was the knowledge of all these undeserving transactions of the party chairman that is giving the party a bad name which engendered the lingering feud between Gani-Olaoluwa and Odeyemi.

It was gathered that when Odeyemi raised an eye brow over all these anomalies, the

party chairman announced his suspension through a press conference.

Odeyemi also fought back, deriving his authority from the constitution of the party, chapter X tagged disciplinary procedure, item 57, sub-paragraphs 4-6.

T h e i t e m 5 7 , s u b -paragraph 4 reads thus: “When an allegation is made against a member of the party, the Disciplinary Committee shall inform the member in writing of the allegations made against him and the place and time of hearing the case against him or her.

“a member wo appears before a Disc ip l inary Committee shall be given opportunity to present his case orally or in writing either in person or through a counsel of his choice and shall be allowed to call witness.

“a decision taken against a member who has not been informed of the charges against him or has been given any opportunity of defending himself shall be null and void”.

As at the time of filing this report, the battle for campaign funds between Odeyemi and Gani-Olaoluwa has been shifted to the court of records.

A random sampling of the opinions of some members of the PDP in the state showed that they are not happy with the development, moreso, when it is orchestrated by the chairman of the party who should go extra-mile to be a formidable rallying point among the members and leaders of the party.

Information at the disposal of OsuN dEFENdEr showed that the defeated PDP governorship candidate in the August 9, 2014 election in Osun, Senator Iyiola Omisore, is also not happy with the turns of events in the leadership of the party in the state.

Osun PDP Knocked Over Jubilation On Osun Tribunal’s ProceedingsThE Peoples democratic Party (PdP) has again

received knocks over jubilations by its members after the sitting of the state Election Petition

Tribunal last Friday that the party’s governorship candidate, Iyiola Omisore, has won, as a socio-political group, Osun Positive Force (OPF), described the jubilation

has never happenped in the history of Ede-South State Constituency.

He then appealed to Adebisi not to forget and keep to all his electoral promises

as a ‘show of shame’.The group said the “wild

jubilation” was a provocative attempt by PDP leaders and members to cause confusion in the state over the ongoing trial before the tribunal hearing the petition on the August 9, 2014 governorship election results.

The group, in a statement issued and signed by Adetoye Akere and Mrs. Busayo Eselebor, State Coordinator and State Women Coordinator respectively, called on the residents of the state to disregard the wild jubilation by members of the PDP as a mere day-dreaming.

While condemning the behaviour of the PDP on the

tribunal’s proceedings, the group noted that the action of the party was a clear attempt to explain away their impending loss at the tribunal when eventually the case is decided.

The group, which saluted the courage and resilience of the APC members to contain the PDP postures, said the lies would soon be exposed when the tribunal finally delivers its judgment.

According to the group, “despi te ava lanche of failures on the part of the petitioners to prove their case pointed out by the respondents without any attempt to counter it, they are still going out to spread

all manner of lies, which are contrary to the true situation of things as presented in court.

“This is a clear attempt to expla in away the i r impending loss at the tribunal when eventually the case is decided.

“As against the malicious lie being peddled around by Omisore, the PDP and his hirelings about the proceedings at the last sitting of the tribunal, what happened was that the parties adopted their final written addresses in anticipation of a judgment that will once and for all settle the needless controversy as to who actually won the August 9, 2014 gubernatorial election in the state.

“While every party in a case deserves to be optimistic of the outcome of a case in his own favour, even when such party knows he does not deserve an inch

of a victory, the sanctity of the court must be respected, as its smacks of contempt of court to pre-determine the outcome of a case that is yet to be decided.

“The show of shame exhibited by the Peoples Democratic Party last Friday, January 23 is in the least condemnable.

“We salute the courage and res i l i ence o f our members in the face of unwarranted provocation. Let us continue to endure their lies as, in a matter of days, it is going to crumble like a pack of cards as others have been since the inception of this tribunal”.

The statement noted that the victory of Governor Rauf Aregbesola was God ordained and nothing could truncate it.

By kazEEM MOhaMMEd

3 News OSuN DefeNDeR Thursday, january 29,

•The governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf aregbesola (middle); Chief Imam ado ekiti Central Mosque, alhaji Jamiu Keulere (right) and alhaji aruna Sakariyau (left) during a courtesy visit to the ado-ekiti Central Mosque by the governor recently.

Osun Govt Receives Commendation Over Peaceful Settlement Of Communal Clash

By FraNCIs EzEdIuNO

ThE Governor of the state of Osun, Ogbeni rauf aregbesola, has been commended for the peaceful manner in which the communal clash

between Ipetumodu and asipa communities in Ife North Local Government Council area of the state was resolved, thus averting bloodshed and unnecessary loss of lives.

Also commended were the Apetu of Ipetumodu; Oba James Adegoke, the Alasipa of Asipa, the member representing Ife North State Constituency in the State of Osun House of Assembly, Honourable Ipoola Binuyo, who made sure that a land dispute reconciliatory meeting was held and the warring parties were brought together and peace was achieved.

S p e a k i n g w i t h OsuN dEFENdEr in Ipetumodu, a community leader, Pa Isaiah Adejumo, narrated how it all started.

He explained that the problem had its root in the lands bounding the two communities together and it was regrettable that they could resort to taking up of arms against themselves.

The community leader narrated how they had to flee from their homes for

fear of being caught in the crossfire, but was full of gratitude to God for the quick way in which the dispute was brought to a peaceful end.

Accord ing to h im: “Though there was a misunderstanding between Ipetumodu and Asipa, the two towns were mindful of the long historical ties between them.

“They were aware that many of them were in-laws to each other; they had their children in their towns schooling and engaging in businesses and they wanted the problem to be brought under control very fast, which was just achieved.”

On their own par t , s tudents of Oduduwa University, Ipetumodu, O b a f e m i Aw o l o w o University Pre-Degree and Foreign Links College, who were caught in the

crossfire, had started to return to their bases.

In their testimonies to the medium, some of them revealed that they had to run for their lives when they discovered that they were no longer safe.

They revealed that many of them fled to stay with friends in neighbouring towns of Yakooyo, Moro and Edunabon but felt

happy to be back home since peace had been restored.

Adeyinka Adeyanju, a Mass Communication s t u d e n t o f O d u d u w a University, stated that it was okay that things were back to normal, but revealed that not all the students would want to come back to their former homes.

Also affec ted were members of the National Youth Serv ice Corps (NYSC), whose places of primary assignments were

Osun To Disburse N500m Loan To Farmers This YearGOVErNMENT of the state of Osun has said

it would disburse N500 million as agricultural loans to farmers in 2015.

Osun Assembly Warns MDAs Against Financial RecklessnessBy kazEEM MOhaMMEd

ThE state of Osun house of assembly has warned the Ministries, departments and agencies (Mdas) of government in the state against financial

recklessness, saying the dwindling resources of the state requires more prudency.

C h a i r m a n , H o u s e Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Honourable Kamil Oyedele, gave the warning at the continuation of the 2015 budget estimate defence before the joint committees of the House on Wednesday.

This was just as the Accountant-General of the State, Mr Kolawole Akintayo, said that the dwindling federal allocation to the state fell short of

the needs of the state and is seriously affecting the payment of salaries.

The MDAs that appeared before the House for the day were Office of the A c c o u n t a n t - G e n e r a l , Ministry of Information and Strategy, Bureau of Public Service Pension, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and Ministry of Justice among others.

Addressing each of the MDA’s, Oyedele said each

of them must look inward to generate revenue for the state to achieve the goal of the present administration for development.

According to him, Osun is facing a serious financial challenge and to tackle it, government officials must be proactive and aggressive in generating revenue for the state without putting unnecessary burden on the people.

Speaking before the committee, Akintayo said it was untrue that the allocation to the state was enough to meet the obligations of salary payment to workers, as claimed by Vice President Namadi Sambo that the allocations are enough to

pay the salaries.He said: “The money they

are giving to us has been cut seriously, by about almost 65 per cent. They are just telling lies.

“Everytime, we will have issues to trash out with them. Imagine the Federal Government lending out money to other countries from the federation account a n d i t i s a g a i n s t t h e Constitution.

“We fought against this, Lagos State government went to court, but there is nothing we can do more than that because they are in-charge of the money,” he said.

By kazEEM MOhaMMEd

Acting General Manager, Osun State Agricultural Development Corporation (OSSADEC), Mr Kayode Olanipekun, stated this while defending the budget estimate of the corporation

before Joint House of Assembly committees on Finance and Appropriation, and Agriculture and Food Security on Tuesday.

This was just as the State House of Assembly said

the budget estimate that would be approved for the ministries, departments and agencies of government for the year would be revenue-driven.

Presenting the details of the budget, Olanipekun said the state government embarked on government-guaranteed interest-free loans, under which the Bank o f Agr i cu l tu re contributes 50 per cent

and the state government contribute 50 per cent.

He said: “In 2015, we are disbursing N500 million to farmers, of which the interest rate of 8 per cent is paid by the state government on behalf of the farmers, so as to reduce the burden on them and ensure that they have better returns on their farms.

“Anytime from now, we will start disbursing the

loans and the first tranch of N140 million would be released as from next week.

“The scheme has been on for a long time and the ability of the government to go on with the programme has increased farmers’ returns on investment.

“The loan scheme is the best among all the agricultural programmes in the state because the

attached conditions cannot be jumped and this has made the recoveries of the loans easier,” he said.

The budget presented for the corporation had N275 million as revenue and N242 million as expenditure.

Also, the Ministry of Lands, Physical Planning and Urban Development presented N10 bil l ion as revenue estimate for the year and N5 billion as expendi ture; while the Osun State Property Development Corporation had the revenue target of N884 million and N531 million as expenditure.

Other MDAs that went through the hurdle of budget defence for the day were Osun State Capital Territory Development Authority, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Civil Service Commission, Osun State Agricultural Development Programme (OSSADEP), M i n i s t r y o f H u m a n Resources and Capacity Building, and the Osun State University (UNIOSUN).

Addressing the leadership of each of the MDA’s, the Cha i rman , House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Honourable Kamil Oyedele urged them to be aggressive in revenue generation for the year, with a view to meeting up with the promise made to the people.

He said: “The heavy reduction of allocation to the state is a serious challenge that we must tackle by generating revenue on our own for us to be able to meet up with the programmes of government.

“The budget we will approve will be revenue-driven and there is need for all hands to be on deck for us to achieve our goals,” he said.

in the two communities.Some members of the

two communities revealed that several businesses were affected but now that things are back to normal, they are eager to go back to their normal activities.

OSuN DefeNDeR Thursday, january 4 News

•The PDP governorship candidate in the State of Osun, Senator Iyiola Omisore (left), in a handshake with governor Rauf aregbesola’s lawyer, Chief akin Olujimi (SaN) while PDP National Secretary, Professor Wale Oladipo watches at the governorship election petition tribunal at High Court, Osogbo last friday during the adoption of final addresses by all interested parties at the tribunal. Photo: gBeNga aDeNIYI.

Change Of NameI, formerly known

a n d a d d r e s s e d a s MIss OGuNNIyI OMOyENI aLICE, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs O L a N r E W a j u OMOyENI aLICE. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

Change Of NameI, formerly known

a n d a d d r e s s e d a s O G u N j O B I MIChaEL, now wish to be known and addressed a s O G u N j O B I MIChaEL TuNdE. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

Change Of NameI, formerly known

a n d a d d r e s s e d a s MIss OLadIMEjI rOFIaT OLaNIkE, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Mashud rOFIaT O L a d I M E j I . A l l f o r m e r d o c u m e n t s remain valid. General public should take note.

Bird Flu: Osun Deploys Veterinary Doctors To Major FarmsBy kEhINdE ayaNTuNjI

dEsPITE the absence of the Avian Influenza outbreak in Osun (aI), the state government has deployed all the veterinary officers in the State Ministry of

agriculture and Food security to man the control posts in and around the state.

T h e s t a t e h a s a l s o approved the procurement of chemicals for the poultry farmers to fumigate their farms in preventing the outbreak of the disease.

The s ta te governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, s t a t e d t h i s r e c e n t l y in Osogbo at a seminar organized for prevention of bird flu in the state organised by TUNS Farms Limited in collaboration

with the Poultry Association of Nigeria, State of Osun Chapter.

Aregebesola, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola, disclosed that his government is making concerted effort to ensure that there is no single case of Avian Influenza recorded in the state.

He said: “You could recollect that when the

disease became epidemic in Nigeria in Year 2006, there was no single case of it in our state. In our bid to prevent the recent alerts in some states of federation, we have approved the purchase of chemicals to fumigate all farms in the state.”

T h e g o v e r n o r h a s equally directed Veterinary Department in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food security to deploy all its officers to man all the control posts in and out of the state.

Whi l e commend ing TUNS Farms for coming up with the seminar, the governor solicited the

support of people of the state and PAN in the fight against the disease by promptly reporting strange bird behaviour and high mortalities of the birds to the State Ministry of Agriculture and Food security.

Speaking earlier, the Managing Director of TUNS Farms, Engineer Olalekan Badmus, described Bird Flu as a disease that caused viruses adapted to birds and other species, which infects all domestic and wild birds characterised by respiratory, digestive and in some cases nervous signs and high mortality.

R e c a l l i n g t h e f i r s t outbreak of the disease in the

country, Badmus disclosed that AI was recorded in Nigeria in Year 2006 in about 34 states affecting total no of 480, 370 birds with its attendant socio-economic negative impact on the country.

He added that if the current alert is not put in check and allow to become an epidemic, it could lead to unemployment in the country, as most farms would close down and other poultry-related industries would be affected.

“That is the reason we come up with this seminar in collaboration with PAN,” Badmus stressed

He therefore, advised all the poultry farmers to take bio-security of their farms a priority in order not be affected by the disease.

“Despite the fact that TUNS Farm is a bio-secured farm, which has modern facilities for quality control and disease preventive operations, we do not rest on our oars. Already, our quality assurance team has been put on alert to put

more bio-security measures in place and to engage in sensitisation of OBOPs farmers in the state on Bird Flu.”

The State Chairman of Poultry Association of Nigeria, PAN, Chief Olukiran Oluyemi, stated that the State of Osun had never experienced bird flu, but added that the seminar was a form of preventive measure and to educate their members on the measures to be taken against the disease.

He then urged poultry farmers in the state to adhere strictly to bio-security measure to prevent Bird Flu from attacking their farms.

Poultry and livestocks farmers all over the state attended the seminar, which drew resource persons from Federal Ministry of Agriculture, State of Osun Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, PAN, Tuns Farms and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife

Peace Returns As Govt Settles Osun Communal

By kazEEM MOhaMMEd

PEaCE has finally returned to the two communities of Ipetumodu and ashipa, both in Ife North Local Government Council area of the state of Osun after

a communal crisis, as leaders of the two communities have embraced one another to demonstrate their agreement to sheath their swords.

The two communities have been at loggerheads for some days over a disputed land clash, which left the two neighbouring towns deserted for a while, as residents fled for their safety amidst the crisis.

Though, no one was r e p o r t e d d e a d d u r i n g the communal clash, but many residents of the two communities reportedly sustained various degrees of injury, while properties worth millions of naira were destroyed.

G o v e r n o r R a u f Aregbesola, while addressing the Apetu of Ipetumodu, O b a J a m e s A d e g o k e ; representative of Asalu of Asipa, Chief Ojediran Olaleke and chiefs and leaders of both communities a t a p e a c e m e e t i n g , charged the two warring communit ies to ensure promotion of communal peace, which forms one of the cardinal programmes of his administration or face government sanction.

Aregbesola urged the monarchs and leaders of the two communities to warn their youths to desist from acts that could further jeopardise the peace of the communities and the state as a whole.

He stated that a committee would be set up to look into the remote causes and find solution to the problems identified by the leaders of the two communities, just as he commended the security operatives for their prompt response in curbing

the breakdown of law and order and restoring peace in the troubled areas.

However, life has started picking up in the two troubled communities, as residents who fled from their homes for safety have started returning to their various abodes.

T h o u g h , s e c u r i t y operatives have continued to be on ground to enforce law and order, but things are now back to normal, as commercial and social activities have also started picking up again.

The communal clash, which almost left the two communities deserted came to a halt, with the intervention of Governor Aregbesola .

S p e a k i n g o n t h e development, the Apetu of Ipetumodu, Oba James Adegoke, said his people have embraced peace since the intervention by the state government, urging the people of the two neighbouring communities to give peace a chance.

Also , the Asaa lu o f Ashipa, Chief Ojediran Julius who spoke on behalf of the Alashipa of Ashipa confirmed that peace has indeed returned to the two towns, and appreciated the effort of the state governor in achieving the feat.

He however, appealed to the state government to expedite action on the market day dispute between the two communities.

Osun Assembly Protests Negligence Of Pa-tients By THC Health Workers•Govt Commences 3km Roads In 30 LGs SoonThE state of Osun house of assembly has read a riot

act over the poor approach of Ladoke akintola university of Technology Teaching hospital

Complex (LauTEChThC), Osogbo medical workers to patients, urging the management to strengthen supervision of its workforce.

The Speaker, Honourable Najeem Salaam, raised the issue recently when the management of the hospital appeared before the Joint House Commi t t ee on Finance and Appropriation, and Committee on Health to defend its 2015 budget estimate.

Salaam said the House had r ece ived s eve ra l complaints from patients who patronised the hospital that the medical workers

relationship has no human face at all, saying the House would not hesitate to take decisive action against any of the workers found wanton.

W o n d e r i n g w h y the workers would be comfortable in such poor relationship with patients, even when they realise that they deal with human lives, he urged the management to improve on its supervision mechanism.

Presenting the budget, the Chief Medical Director, Professor Femi Fadiora, said the management has been making efforts to improve on the staff-patient relationship through series of lectures for its workers.

He urged that whoever experiences or observes such poor approach of the institution’s workers should report to his office and such staff would be brought to book.

F a d i o r a h o w e v e r presented the budget of the institution, which has N1 billion as revenue and N5.2 billion as expenditure, which would be financed by the two owner states of Oyo and Osun.

Besides, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works, Engineer Nurudeen Adeagbo, while defending the budget of his ministry said the government would kick-off the construction of three kilometer roads in each local government council area within the year.

According to him, the project has been estimated to cost N10.030 billion, but N2.75 billion has been budgeted in the 2015 budget to start the project.

H e a l s o s a i d t h e dualisation of Osogbo/I l o b u / I f o n / O y o S t a t e Boundary road, which has been estimated to cost N5.5 billion has been listed to start within the year.

The total budget of the ministry as presented before the House has N2.5 billion as revenue and N25.3 billion as expenditure.

Other ministries and agencies that appeared for the budget defence were Ministry of Home Affairs, Cul ture and Tour ism; Ministry of Commerce, Cooperative, Industry and Empowerment; Ministry of Health; Osun Road Main tenance Agency, as well as Ministry of Environment and Sanitation among others.

By kazEEM MOhaMMEd

5 OSuN DefeNDeR Thursday, january 29, 2015

By IsMaEEL uThMaN

Election 2015: Electorate Commend Candidates-Call For Free, Fair Election By Francis Ezediuno

that preceding the Akure ‘Walk for Change’ organ-ised by the APC to galvanise peoples support towards the February 14, 2015 presiden-tialelection. Contending, respon-dents, who spoke with this medium, explained that itwas time for politics and put-ting into cognisance that the caliber ofpeople that were to attend the exercise, Nigerian Police had no legalbasis to tear-gas participants.They noted that the commo-tion was unnecessary as a previous exercise

had been conducted in Osun, which went peacefully.They praised party members in Ondo for not engaging the operatives ofthe Nigerian Police but instead went about the process peace-fully.Describing the Nigerian Police as the ‘political thugs’, theyreiterated that they were only dancing to the tune their master wasblowing.They called on the two major contenders to the highest office in thecountry to play matured poli-tics and allow the electorate to choosewhomever they wanted to rule them for the next four years.Politicians were further advised to base their campaigns on is-

sues,rather than name calling, antago-nisms, verbal attacks and em-ploymentof the social media to cast un-necessary aspersions where it was not inexistence as was observed during the week.The peaceful nature of the cam-paign kick-off was rated high anddescribed as a departure from the practise as in previous electioncampaigns.They also affirmed that the gen-eral election was not a do-or-dieaffair and that the resort to thug-gery, which was reported in theNorth relating to the burning of campaign buses of one of thepolitical parties’ candidate, was uncalled for.“The incident should not be

swept under the carpet. It should bethoroughly investigated and those found guilty should ad-equatelypunished, because if it’s left to fester, a repeat of the 2011 debacleis imminent and such should not repeat itself in 2015.”Relating to the powers to pros-ecute election offenders, therespondents wanted the pow-ers of the Independent National ElectoralCommission (INEC) to be increased.The argument is based on the premise that it is INEC that wouldprosecute and not the Nigerian Police.

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Did Bishop Oyedepo Really Say That Or It’s An-other PDP Dirty Trick?WHAT is trending

n o w i s t h a t B i s h o p D a v i d

Oyedepo of Winners’ C h a p e l C h u r c h h a s threatened to open the gate of hell on those opposing P r e s i d e n t G o o d l u c k Jonathan in next month’s elections.

I have dredged and rummaged all nooks and cranny, I have combed through every cubbyhole and pigeonhole, and I have punched words and names into all search-engines seeking to verify the alleged statement, but I have not found anything close to this specific averment.

Therefore, it is difficult for me to jump on the Bishop condemning him for a statement I am not sure he made. I do not follow Bishop Oyedepo’s Ministry, but he is a beloved man of God.

My heart began warming up to him when he made a public endorsement of Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, a Moslem,

who had been branded a fundamentalist by the PDP killer-machine and its sympathizers during last year’s campaign for the governorship seat.

When Rauf was in the thick of this hateful and despicable propaganda about Islamization of the State of Osun, the easiest

and very popular route for the Bishop was to stay quiet or join in the lampooning of a Moslem governor of a state that parades a horde of great men of God like Apostle Babalola, Pastor Obadare, Pastor Adeboye, Pastor Abiara, Pastor Ashimolowo, to mention but a few.

But the Bishop took a trip to Osun, expressing his

appreciation for what Rauf has achieved in the state. This is what the Bishop said: “There is nothing like peace in the whole world. We should always walk towards whatever will promote peace and peaceful coexistence among our people. Let us work for an atmosphere that encourages peace, which engenders growth and development.

This is because life is all about promoting the well-being of the people. I d e e p l y a p p r e c i a t e t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r a l development. Besides, the education revolution is for us a great achievement. “I can see the massive road construction going on. This is to the benefit of the people. No policy can remove the roads. I am very impressed,” Oyedepo said.

Will the same Bishop, who showed no bias in that election now threaten to open the gates of hell to us all because we are choosing a Moslem over another man we are not even sure is a Christian?

I am beginning to see the fingerprints of the PDP on this alleged statement.

The PDP will do anything to deceive the people because they know the game is over. You can’t put anything past a drowning but desperate party and its flag bearer.

I think we should wait before we weigh in with certainty that the bishop made the statement. Anyone who has a video image of the statement should post it for all to see. So for now, it is a non-issue for me.

•fOLa OJO, live in united States of america.

Continued from pg1

OSuN DefeNDeR Thursday, january 6

Buhari Has What It Takes To Win - Remi Mr. aderemi Idowu was Chairman, Media and Publicity Committee of the action Con-

gress of Nigeria (aCN) before it became the all Progressives Congress (aPC) in the uK. a Housing expert, who graduated from the London School of economics, the former senato-rial aspirant for Oyo South Senatorial District, speaks on a new book project on Buhari, Nigeria’s political temperature and other issues. excerpts:YOU are a Nigerian in the Diaspora, what is the mood like over the 2015 elections, especially on the presidential election?

IDOWU: The mood outside Nigeria, that means covering United Kingdom, USA, Canada and all over the world about this presidential election; the mood is electric, people are very happy that Nigeria has another opportunity to take this democracy forward by electing a president of their choice and critically, the moment we are, we have two strong political parties, the present government, which the PDP represents and a very strong opposition unlike past elections, where opposition parties weren’t strong or weren’t together. But in this case, we have a very strong opposition. So, that gives people in the Diaspora the very feelings that this election will be a very determinant factor whether Nigeria will go forward or we are not serious at all about democracy. So, the mood generally is very high, people are just expecting this to happen come February 14, 2015.

addition to that, the fears towards the election is actually based on what some people are saying or what they are threatening about the forthcoming election if it doesn’t favour them, especially people from the ruling party and especially my brothers from the Niger-Delta. I don’t want to really mention anybody’s name but I’m someone who is constantly on Facebook and other social media platforms and I have read so many terrible comments by a section of the country especially from the Niger-Delta people, threatening fire and brimstones if Jonathan loses the election, they will declare war. Recently a gubernatorial candidate also made a threat, saying if Jonathan doesn’t win the election, the Niger-Delta will collapse the economy. I don’t think that’s what people need at this moment. We are all Nigerians and we pray for a free and fair election and in so doing, whoever comes victorious in a free and fair poll should be supported, whether PDP or the APC. So, there is no need at this moment for people to be threatening because if we are talking of democracy someone must win and the other part will have to lose and accept as long as the election is free and fair.

People should stop threatening other people that unless they win. Democracy doesn’t work that way. If you lose, you must accept and if you win, you must be magnanimous about it and we move forward and do what we have to do as a nation. Nigerians in the Diaspora are happy as I said earlier but I think they are disappointed because the President, Goodluck Jonathan, promised when he was campaigning in 2011that those in the Diaspora will have a say in electing their representatives; that they will have power to vote, but the president up till now has not kept this promise. So, I think there is disappointment that

they won’t be able to vote except for people like us who are back home to exercise our civic duties. So, there is that disappointment also apart from being happy that we are going to have election and we will elect our true leaders this time around.

Briefly, can you sum up what you consider to be the political temperature of the country since you came back?

IDOWU: I have been around almost a week now. I am a politician by my involvement and passion, so I have been around and talking about politics with anybody and everybody I come across. People are very happy that this time around, we will elect our true leaders and I could see that most people have made up their minds who they want to vote for. So, you will have political faithful, those belonging to the PDP, those within the APC and some other parties. People are really excited and they are energized and you could see campaigns going on all over the country, and you could see mammoth crowd coming out to welcome their candidate. The mood is really high in Nigeria and like I said, most people I have talked to, almost 90% have made up their minds who

they want to vote for. It is not a matter of whether they are thinking about it or not. Yes, we still have people who have not made up their minds, the undecided but I am sure before the weeks run out, few weeks to election people will definitely decide where they want to be. I have been reading and I have been hearing people saying ‘yes, this is the candidate I am going to vote for’ with reasons given peculiar to themselves, which is fine and I still believe we still have few neutral people that they are neither here nor there, people that I can term as fence sitters. They are still sitting on the fence. I hope they are not going to sit so long before February 14. Everybody will have to make his or her own mind before the election but generally the country is energized. I could see that on political rallies, on comments and debates here and there both on televisions, newspapers because we are all ready for this election because it’s going to make Nigeria and I pray is not going to break Nigeria.

There are fears that because of the seeming popularity of both Jonathan and Buhari, the outcome of the February 14 poll may bring Nigeria to

chaos. What are your fears?IDOWU: Let me be honest with

you, whichever way it goes, Buhari or Jonathan, my prayer is and my support is for Buhari. I will continue to campaign for him and if it is Jonathan, the fear is there, we may come up with some little or minor chaos here and there. Like I said earlier on, people in Jonathan’s camp, especially his Ijaw people, have been threatening and threat is not part of the democracy. Democracy is for people to stand up, campaign and support a particular candidate of your choice and if that person wins, that is good and if that person loses the election, there is nothing you can do about it. You just have to accept the result as long as the election is fair and free and I want to believe Professor Attahiru Jega is working so hard to give us a free and fair election and with the introduction of the PVC, it means it will be difficult for any political party to rig the election. But I’m not saying that it is still not possible. At least, if we can minimize election rigging trouble, then we have the chance of having a free and fair election that will be acceptable to both candidates. So, once we are able to have an election that is fairly free and fair, it cannot be absolutely free and I don’t think there is any absolutely free and fair election anywhere in the world. But at least, if we can increase the percentage or if we can step up from where we left in 2011 then, it will be clear to the losers that they have to accept and the winners will have to be humble in victory.

So, the fears are there, the Niger-Delta will want to cause trouble and people are also saying that if Buhari doesn’t win the election, there might be protests across the North. I have not heard from the candidates. I have not heard any of them talking about violence if they don’t win the election. What the APC people are saying is that give us free and fair election. If it’s free and fair, it will be accepted, but if it is not free and fair, if the PDP tries to rig the election, that could be a problem and that would be a genuine reason to have problem in Nigeria but nobody is praying for that. But as long as we can get the election through and try without any problem, then whoever wins will accept and the loser will also have to accept the result.

Look at what happened in Osun last year with the re-election of Aregbesola. They made several attempts before, during and immediately after the election before the results were announced and Aregbesola was declared. You could see the happiness on the faces of the people and the mass acceptance because the people of Osun knew it was their choice that was declared eventually.

iNterview

Continued on page 7

•IDOWu

8 OSuN DefeNDeR Thursday, january 29, phototalk

Continuity Flag-off rally For Oyo state Governor, senator abiola ajimobi, For his Second Term In Office In Ibadan, Oyo State, Recently.

•(L-R) all Progressives Congress (aPC) leader in Nigeria, asiwaju Bola Tinubu; former aPC National Chairman, Chief Bisi akande; Oyo State governor, Senator abiola ajimobi and his counterpart in Osun, Ogbeni Rauf aregbesola, during the rally.

•Mammoth crowd at the rally.

•(L-R) governor ajimobi and his wife, florence and State of Osun governor, Ogbeni Rauf aregbesola and his wife, Sherifat, at the rally in Oyo State.

9OSuN DefeNDeR Thursday, january 29, 2015 phototalkall Progressives Congress (aPC) Presidential rally In Ondo state recently.

•aPC Presidential candidate in Nigeria, general Muhammad Buhari (rtd) (arrowed) acknowledging cheers from the crowd atop a bus.

•(L-R) former aPC National Chairman, Chief Bisi akande; former ekiti State governor, Dr Kayode fayemi and aPC National Vice Chairman in Nigeria, Chief Segun Oni during the rally.

•(L-R) general Muhammad Buhari in a discussion with aPC National leader, asiwaju Bola Tinubu at the rally.•

OSuN DefeNDeR Thursday, january 29, 2015 7iNterview

Buhari Has What It Takes To Win - Remi Having been in the politics of

the party in UK for years, do you think APC really has what it takes to deliver good governance?

IDOWU: APC is a new political party, the merger of parties, the CPC, ACN, APGA, PDP. So, APC is a combination of Nigerian political parties. I did some research on that and I have come out with the fact that APC is the first political party merger in the history of Nigeria. We have been having alliances with parties but this is the first political party merger and we are now talking of the strong viable opposition. If you look at the formation of APC, you are talking of people in the North, CPC, the ACN in the South-West, ANPP in the North East. It is a party that cuts across the length and breadth of this country. So, it comes out to be a very strong opposition.

From the statement released by PDP people, you could see that desperation and fear. That for the first time, they are having a strong contest with the strong opposition. So, APC has a very high chance in winning this election, not only the presidential but in most cases because for the first time we are having an opposition party that cuts across all the 36 states of Nigeria. I’m not sure it has ever happened in the history of Nigeria. We will give PDP a good run for their money and that means taking the Presidency away from them, winning most of the states and National Assembly and that is my prediction. It is not only my prediction, it is the political reality in Nigeria. All you have to do is to go to town and speak to people. When you speak to people, take sample, speak to ten people, out of ten people, I can assure you that seven to eight are speaking in favour of APC, even though some of them are not members but they have made up their minds that for the first time, they have the candidate that everybody can rally round. We have a candidate that can confidently say that I have never stolen a penny of public fund and I don’t think we have had any past president that could come out and say such a statement. So, the people see in Buhari and by extension, APC, a transparent, credible and strong party that they can rely on. The people have been looking for this kind of opposition for many years but for the first time. So, our chances are really high.

You have just completed a book on Buhari and planning a presentation, what motivated you to write the book and can we have an insight into the book please?

IDOWU: As much as I don’t want to talk too much about the book, I have written a book on Buhari, and I want to keep it safe until the public presentation which is going to be few days or some weeks’ time. Actually, it is going to come out before the election because that is the essence of the book. I’m motivated because like I said, as politician and a politician, who is not contesting this time around, I believe I have obligation to contribute to the debate and the way I believe I could contribute to the debate is to present it in a formal way by writing a book about Buhari and Nigeria generally for which a Foreword was written by the Governor

of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. So, the book covers not only Buhari but the economy of Nigeria, the promises given by President Goodluck Jonathan. It is a political book and it is into three parts. The first part covers the economy, the security threats in Nigeria and many other things that people need to know about the current government of Jonathan, even though PDP has been in power for sixteen years but they keep telling us about only six years of Jonathan and Jonathan happens to be a candidate and representative of PDP government and they have been in power for sixteen years. So, I was able to let people realize that Jonathan is not just coming from the sky. He has been part and parcel of this political system for sixteen years including his party. So, the second part of it relates to the formation of political parties, our past experiences, past political parties, the current and first ever political merger that came out as APC. So, I was able to talk much about that and also showcase what that phenomenon stands for in Muhammadu Buhari. There are misconceptions and misinformation about this man especially from our youth, those who are 30 years or less in age. They don’t have facts and figures about this man. So, most of their comments are based on fictions because they were young when Buhari was in power and they are being fed by mischievous people about what this man stands for. So, I was able to showcase what Buhari stands for in his own words,

what he’s been doing since he was born. I was able to relate this and put it in black and white. For people to read and understand themselves because this is the man that stands for integrity, honesty, transparency and he is foremost anti-corruption person Nigeria ever had. So, people will see, read through and understand this man. That was primarily my objective that we must correct this notion that ‘Buhari is this; Buhari is that’ based on misinformation. So the book actually dealt with that to make people realize that Buhari is not what he has been painted as. For example, you can imagine people saying this man is an illiterate. A General! Not only in Nigeria is he respected but all over the world. He is actually number six on the list of honour. So, when people now say he is uneducated, we should tell them to look for other intelligent things to say. So, it’s annoying. So, we were able to let people understand how he started his life from primary school up to where he is at the moment. That is essentially what the book stands for and we hope to present it to the public any moment from now. So, the third part of the book covers what my party stands for because there are lots of things some people don’t still really understand or they don’t take time to or venture to find out. With this new age of technology, all you have to do is to do a little bit of research. To let people have an idea of what we stand for, our manifesto. So, we have our manifesto in the book, so it is not a matter of ‘I don’t know what APC

stands for’. All you have to do if you don’t know is to pick the book or go to our website and read. This information is there for the public to see. The part also covers the aspect where I so much believe; where my occupation lays and where I believe Nigeria can benefit immensely and that is provision of public sector housing.

It serves as my recommendation and the concluding part of the book, because housing alone can revamp Nigeria’s economy if we take it seriously. I was able to put that in black and white for people to see the benefits because housing incorporate everything. It is where we can create millions of job opportunities for our youths, for professionals, for artisans. It’s a huge potential and I was able to relate this, explain it and bring it to the fore front as part of our policy arrangments.

What role do you expect this book to play in Nigerians deciding who they vote for between Jonathan and Buhari?

IDOWU: The rationale behind the book is to educate Nigerians, to keep history, to keep record and to present the facts as they are, in other words, if we are well-educated about both politically strong parties of PDP and APC, it will now give you the opportunity to make up your mind. You will know very well about what PDP represents, especially in the last six years of President Jonathan and you will also have the opportunity to see Buhari in his true colour, in his true picture, in his own words. So when you now look at both sides of the coin, Jonathan and Buhari, you then decide who you want to vote for and why you want to vote for this particular choice of yours. We want those who read it to say ‘I have a document that could help me make up my mind.’ I believe it is part of the debate so that once you have facts and figures about both political parties, it will not be difficult to say ‘I can go for A or I can go for B’. That is number one essence of the book.

Number two is to let history be recorded because I’m not sure we have a political book about Nigeria especially our democracy in the last 50 years. There are few books but we need to do more. I am happy that I’m contributing my part to the Nigerian political literature by writing the book, by stating the economic history of Nigeria, political history of Nigeria and talking about political parties, talking about candidates. This will even help unborn generations to go back and say ‘I have a book that I can read on Jonathan, I have a book that I can read on Buhari without anybody telling me.’ It’s going to be there hundred, fifty years. So, it is going to be a book that will be globally sold because it’s going to be on Amazon online and three onlines worldwide where people can go and buy the book. So, it is going to showcase Nigeria’s democracy to the whole world. It is going to inform Nigerians both in the Diaspora and inside Nigeria about the last six years of PDP government and about this phenomenon called Buhari and you have facts and figures about both candidates.

Continued from page 6

•IDOWu

10 OSuN DefeNDeR Thursday, january 29, phototalk

(L-R) Deputy governor, State of Osun, Otunba (Mrs) grace Titi Laoye-Tomori; Vice Presidential candidate of all Progressives Congress (aPC), Prof Yemi Osinbajo; the gov-ernor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf aregbesola and his wife, Sherifat, during Walk for Change exercise in Osogbo recently.

•Mammoth crowd at the Walk-for-Change exercise in Osogbo.

•former Chairman of State of Osun all Progressives Congress (aPC), elder Lowo adebiyi; alhaji fatai Diekola and elder Peter Babalola during the programme.

•State of Osun Head of Service, Mr Yinka Owoeye; Chief of Staff to the governor, alhaji gboyega Oyetola and Secretary to the State government of Osun, alhaji adeoti, on the occasion.

all Progressives Congress (aPC) Walk-For-Change In Osogbo, state Of Osun, recently.

11 OSuN DefeNDeR Thursday, january 29, feature

Mr President, Sorry, You Do Not Deserve Another WHILE I commiserate with President Goodluck Jonathan about the death of his younger sister, I must also state that this president does not give a damn about the plight of other Nigerians.

The President was able to postpone the inauguration of his campaign team simply because he lost his sister, meanwhile, when hundreds of Nigerians were killed during the first Nyanya bombing, the President not only called the bluff of those that died due to the failure of his government, but was also seen dancing Azonto in Kano. Why was Kano carnival necessary? Simply because one former governor was returning to the corrupt PDP camp? The President could not shift the event, as he did with his campaign team, perhaps if one of those that died in the Nyanya was to be his relative, he would have shifted the event. The horror of PDP’s misgovernance and cluelessness have already created a virtual state of war in the North-East of the country, where Boko Haram is wreaking havoc, death and destruction in our fatherland and has even seized territories from Nigeria in the area.

On the day he was to give his consent to contest the 2015 election, there was a bomb blast in Yobe, where many students lost their lives. It was utterly insensitive and absolutely callous the decision by President Goodluck Jonathan to declare his second/third term ambition on a day almost 50 students were killed and about 80 injured in a suicide bombing in Potiskum. Mr President by all his actions, was only dancing on the graves of the students, as well as those of all the victims of the Boko Haram insurgency.

Since he chose to celebrate a national tragedy, Nigerians should also be ready to celebrate his electoral failure come February 14.

Today, the three North-East states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe are being overrun by Boko Haram and over 650,000 Nigerians are internally displaced in those states by the insurgency.

Yet, Mr President claimed he has been putting Nigerians first, while his actions show otherwise and lies have never worn a bolder face. The truth is that for President Jonathan, it is Jonathan first, Jonathan second, Jonathan third, Jonathan always!” as he had just demonstrated with the death of his sister.

When about 60 students were killed in the terror attack on the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, in February 2014, President Jonathan never visited the scene to commiserate with the

families of the victims. Since the war in the North

Eastern part of Nigeria began, not for once has this man from Utuoke visited the area to commiserate with the bereaved families or even to pay a visit to our officers, who are being sent daily to commit suicide in the warfront as a result of poor ammunition supply, due to the corruption in the presidency and within the command. Just few days ago, Professor Jerry Gana just told us that the President will campaign in the North East area of the country. How insensitive can this be, when the President could not deem it fit to visit those area since the war broke out, he now wants to go there to ask for their votes? I’m very sure this AGIP (Any Government In Power) man (Jerry Gana) was quoted out of context. Would the President, who has refused to hear the cries of the people in that area, be bold enough to ask them for their votes? Like my people would say: “I dey laugh oh”.

Chibok school girls issue is still outstanding. Up till today, Mr President has not deemed it fit to visit the area, and when almost

300 girls were freshly abducted, he neither acted fast enough to rescue the girls, nor visited the village. His administration even denied anyone was abducted, until 19 days after. He failed to act decisively simply because none of his wards were involved? Because it shows that this shoeless man can only bite when it concerns him or any of the corrupt cabinet members, as it was the case when his uncle and the mother of one of his ministers were kidnapped. He not only gave a marching order to the security agents to rescue both, a huge sum was also parted with to free the duo. Many of those kidnapped victims were not that fortunate like the uncle of the former governor of Bayelsa State, who was murdered in cold blood.

President Jonathan has therefore established a pattern of putting his political interest above the security and welfare of Nigerians, who voted him into office. This President has trampled upon the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which makes the security and welfare of the citizenry the raison d’etre of government’s existence. It is time for Nigerians to respond in kind by trampling on his political

ambition and sending him back to Otuoke,”

His security agents can also be termed as a political wing of PDP with their frivolous accusation and biased statements being dished out constantly. The culprit amongst them is the spokeswoman for the DSS, Marilyn Ogar. This woman needs to have been fired from her position if it were in a saner clime. How could someone in her position be dishing out reckless statements virtually on daily basis? If she wants to join those jobbers in the presidency, she ought to have resigned her appointment and join the likes of Mr Doyin Okupe and Femi Fani-Kayode. What right has she to be issuing a threat to a sitting governor that has immunity from prosecution. She has ridiculed the agency she’s representing with her shameless arrogant ways. She promised Nigerians that we would be shocked by the time she reveals what was found in her agency’s illegal raid of APC secretariat. Since she made that promise, we are still waiting to hear from this shameless spokeswoman of the DSS about their discovery and neither has the agency tendered unreserved apology to the party for its officers’ crazy behaviour.

President Jonathan’s transformation agenda and whatever achievements he and his team are boasting of cannot be felt by ordinary Nigerians. Nigerians are hearing everyday that our economy is the best in Africa. We however wonder how our economy be the best, when our electricity supply is still at zero level? The Naira is nose-diving daily; workers are not being paid, while those dubious PDP governors are busy donating towards the president’s electioneering campaign. The roads are nothing to write home about, while corruption is synonymous to the government at the centre. After all the President and his party do not give a damn about corruption, as they claimed that the problem of Nigeria is not corruption but stealing.

So I want President Jonathan to agree with me that he does not deserve another term because what Nigerians want now and urgently too is CHANGE and not business as usual. ‘Change’ is also a clarion call for the people to get seriously involved in rescuing Nigeria from shame of corruption and poverty, which the PDP-led government has imposed on Nigerians since 1999.

When he declared his assets during the late President Yar’Adua’s administration, he claimed to worth N270 million. Though no one queried he amassed such wealth, because

By TOBy IdaOMI

•JONaTHaN

13 OSuN DefeNDeR Thursday, january 29, feature

Why Aregbesola Cannot Lose The Osun 2014 Gubernatorial AF T E R t h e A u g u s t 9 , 2 0 1 4

gubernatorial election which was convincingly won by Ogbeni Rauf

Aregbesola, the All Progressives CFongress (APC) candidate, the Returning Officer, Professor Bamitale Omole, in returning Ogbeni Aregbesola, said Aregbesola got 394,684 votes to win the election. His closest contestant was Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore, who polled 292,747 votes to emerge second. The candidate in the third position was Alhaji Fatai Akinbade with 8,898 votes.

Professor Omole said: “Ogbeni Rauf A. Aregbesola of APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law, and scored the highest votes, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected. After the election results were declared, the PDP candidate petitioned the Osun Election Petition Tribunal claiming there were irregularities in the election and its conduct. By section 285 (6) of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999, as amended in 2011, the original judicial responsibility of handling and disposing within 180 days (6 months) from the date of filing of the petitions (within twenty-one (21) days after the announcement of the final result), of gubernatorial election is rested on the Election Petition Tribunal(equivalent of High Court).

By section 285(7), an appeal from the decision of an Election Tribunal or Court of Appeal in an election matter must be heard and disposed of within 60 days (2 months) from the date of the delivery of judgment of the Tribunal or Court of Appeal. Of all the poll petitions’ cases, the governorship poll cases have the longest duration of ten (10) months; that is to say six (6) months at the tribunal, two(2) months at the appeal court and two months at the supreme Court.

From the above declarations of the 1999 Constitution (as amended in 2011), two cases emerged at the Osun Gubernatorial Election Tribunal. One, is the case filed by the PDP and its candidate, Iyiola Omisore, on the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the election; and two, the case brought by APC and its candidate on the lateness of the PDP and its candidate to file their petitions legally. Legal filing must conform to the twenty-one (21) days stipulated by the constitution. No match organizer wants the contest to be won through ‘work over’. PDP and its candidate were not responsive enough to file their petitions within the stipulated time of twenty (21) days but the tribunal gave them the chance to air their views on the conduct of the election, anyway.

In the process of proving that there were irregularities in the conduct of the August 9, 2014 gubernatorial election, PDP and its candidate in the election were only able to show that there should be higher penalty for “abuse of court process” and not the N50,000.00 (fifty thousand naira) only fined the Labour Party candidate, Niyi Owoade. The Osun Gubernatorial Election Tribunal dismissed Accord Party’s petition in the August 9, 2014 election and a fine ofN50,000.00. This fine may be brought up to forestall future abuse of court process.

In the Osun Gubernatorial Election Tribunal that took place in the Osogbo High Court premises, the legal team of PDP and Iyiola Omisore turned the court into a cinema theatre and freely entertained the tribunal judges and the whole court with their comedy most of the times that the tribunal sat. In the beginning of the petition, PDP and its candidate (the petitioners) claimed that there were irregularities in all the wards in the state and wanted to inspect the ballot papers to establish irregularities. The tribunal struck out the application of PDP and its candidate to take the entire petition together so as to fast-track pre-hearing.

The petitioners claimed they had 1200 witnesses at the beginning of the tribunal sitting. This was later reduced to 500 out of which they were only able to invite 43. The witnesses invited were not coherent in their submissions. The comedy of the one-sided case was in the presentation of experts,

evidences and witnesses. The forensic expert procured by the petitioners in the petition, Mr Pius Bakare, could not prove how he became an expert in fingerprint analysis. This can only be done through certificate or work-experience.

The witnesses were in court during the morning session of one of the sittings, but in the afternoon session, when they were expected to give evidence before the tribunal, none of them was seen. When tribunal members resumed from their break at exactly 2:30 pm, the PDP legal team discovered that the witnesses had left the court premises. Some members of the PDP legal team, including Otunba Ojo Williams, quickly rushed out of the court to call the witnesses back to the court. The lead counsel of the petitioner, Mr Chris Uche (SAN), appealed profusely to the court for the delay, as the witnesses were not on ground, admitting that “this is not good for us at all”.

When the delay was becoming unbearable, the tribunal Chairman, Elizabeth Ikpejeme, stood down the case, rose and asked the petitioners’ counsel to inform them when they were ready with their witnesses. It took about 15 minutes before the legal team could get the witnesses back to court after several appeals and assurances. After the witnesses were gotten back to court, the tribunal resumed sitting and the petitioners resumed calling of their witnesses. The witnesses intentionally varnished because they were scared of what they would face from the Aregbesola’s counsel having heard from witnesses who had earlier given evidence.

In cross-examining the witnesses in the morning session on the day the witnesses disappeared, a PDP witness from Oriade Local Government Council Area, Mr Oluwaseun Fapohunda, stunned the tribunal, when during cross-examination, he said that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola voted at his polling unit in Oriade Local Government Council Area, whereas Aregbesola voted in Ilesa in Ilesa East Local Government Council Area. Mr Fapohunda, who claimed he voted in Unit 14, Ward 3, of Oriade Local

Government Council Area, was asked to show the tribunal his allegation of over-voting, which he claimed was apparent in his witness statement on oath, failed to do so even when he was obliged a reading glasses by the petitioner’s counsel, Kunle Adegoke Esq. He also stated that he did not have any pictures of canopies erected in each of the polling units, where APC members were winning and dinning.

For Mr. Adejare Moshood, he confessed during cross-examination that he could not see any super-imposition of any result in Exhibit 192 and 207 which was the result tendered for all the units and wards, contrary to paragraph 5 of his statement on oath. When asked what he meant by super-imposition, he said” when you see something bad and you complain about it and nobody attends to it”.

Habeeb Trimisiyu Oluwafemi, Supervisor in Ward 4 Ayedaade Local Government Council Area claimed he voted in Unit 4. He claimed in his witness statement on oath that agents of APC were busy awarding votes arbitrarily to the respondents. When he was asked to mention the name of those agents, he said he did not know them. He was further asked to point out the genuine votes and the inflated votes as claimed in his witness statement on oath, which he said he cannot identify. He also testified to the effect that when votes were counted in his unit or anywhere in his ward, he was not present and when it was being recorded, he was not in any unit.

It was also a bad day for an old man, Rasaki Olawuni, who claimed to be a party agent in Unit 1, Ward 3, Ayedaade Local Government Council Area. He stated in his witness statement on oath that unregistered voters were allowed to vote; that PDP supporters were chased away from the polling unit and others were intimidated. During cross examination, he claimed he could neither read nor write, but could see his name on the voters’ register and no other. He also confirmed that he did not have the voter’s card of those PDP members that were prevented from voting, neither did he have the names of PDP members that were intimidated and harassed, contrary to his

affidavit sworn to.He further stated that he was not allowed

to sign the result sheet and was not given a copy either. Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN) then asked him that since he did not sign the result and copy was not given to him, he would not know the result contained in Form EC8A. He answered in the affirmative. Chief Olujinmi further confronted him with paragraph 4, which alleged over-voting in his statement on oath, which he could not find answer to. The last straw was the revelation by Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN) that he was not the party agent at that unit; that it was Bolarinwa Ebenezer, whose name was sent by PDP and he was the one that signed Form EC8A. Contrary to his claim that he did not collect copy of the result in his unit, he was shown the duplicate of the result signed by Bolarinwa Ebenezer tendered by PDP counsel. It is rather too absurd and inconceivable that a petitioner would claim irregularities in 85 polling units of the 105 of a local government council area will call only 3witnesses, whose only evidence is, in most cases, by proxy, or hear say. These are clearly inadmissible in law. As a petitioner’s witness, by definition, you ought to be the first-hand witness to the event in contention. You are not supposed to present third party information. And even then, calling 3 witnesses representing only 3 polling units of the alleged 85 units Ikire in Irewole Local Government Council Area, for example, is nothing but ridicule and abuse of court process. The picture painted above also represents what the petitioner was claiming in virtually all the other local government council areas contested.

From the above analysis done on a local government by local government basis, it is crystal clear that out of 965 polling units being challenged by the petitioners, they only called evidence in support of their petition in only 239 polling Units with the abandonment of 726 polling units pleaded in their petition. Assuming, without conceding, that the Petitioners have led credible evidence in all the 239 polling units (which is not the case here), is that enough to sway the judgment in their favour?

239 Polling Units represent 7.94 per cent of the 3,010 polling units contained in the state. This is definitely too insignificant to upturn the result of the gubernatorial election held on August 9, 2014. To make matters worse, the petitioners tendered Form EC8A in respect of only 230 units which mean that even if their claim suc ceeds in respect of the 239 Polling Units in which evidence was led, the Tribunal can only rule in their favour in respect of the said 230 Polling Units in which Form EC8A was tendered. But they failed to prove allegations of wrongdoings in all.

In his final submission on Friday, January 23, 2014, Chief Akin Olujinmi, the lead counsel to the petitioner, proved that the exercise was an effort in futility and urged the court to strike out this case. He opined that even where the results of the 965 polling units being challenged by the petitioners were cancelled, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola would still win in two-third of the local governments in the state and still lead the petitioner by simple majority. This means that Aregbesola will still ‘satisfy the requirements of the law’ to be declared winner. The results of all the 965 polling units were not addressed in the court as only 230 units were addressed and evidenced even wrongly. These are the premise to say that Ogbeni Aregbesola cannot lose this case. Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

•Oyedele wrote in from Osogbo, State of Osun.

By OLuFEMI OyEdELE

•aRegBeSOLa

14 OSuN DefeNDeR Thursday, january 29, for the records

Before Oil Runs Dry: Options For The Development Of The South-West Of

Being an address delivered by the former governor of ekiti State, Dr J. ’Kayode fayemi, at the public lecture organised by afenifere Renewal group (Ogun State Chapter), abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, Thursday, January 22, 2015.

The Case for restructuring the Political Economy

Our incipient economic crisis triggered by declining oil revenues calls into question our entire governance model and political economy which revolves round the distribution of oil rents. The elite consensus and the political architecture that have informed how Nigeria works (or does not work as the case may be) have long been overdue for review. The current crisis offers us an opportunity to do just that and to restart the stalled conversation about the necessity of a truly productive federal order and create a new template for organizing the republic. In order to begin this conversation from the proper point, we must entertain a brief historical excursion that examines how we got to where we are.

During the First Republic, regional federalism was the order of the day. Nigeria was divided into three (then subsequently four) regions each with a great degree of autonomy to organize their affairs as they saw fit. The regions enjoyed fiscal autonomy, constructing their social economies based on the taxation of the economic activities carried out within their territories. They had control over the nature and forms of their development and how they could explore latent and evident potentials in their environment to maximize on the most effective ways to deliver the goods of governance to their people.

The regions had their own constitutions, had total control over and regulated issues relating to education, agriculture, healthcare, taxation, and other significant aspects of their existence. Yet they subscribed to a central authority that held the exclusive right to make decisions pertaining to defence and a few other select issues. The regions were in charge of the resources that they generated, could develop at their own pace and according to the manner that they deemed fit, while contributing a percentage of their revenue towards the keeping of the centre afloat.

A new order commenced in 1966 with the first military intervention that terminated the First Republic. Under the military, governance was centralized, the regions were abolished and their tax-based social economies along with them. What emerged then was a militaristic-unitary state built atop the ruins of the old regional federalism and a new economy based on the proceeds of selling crude oil on the world market. Where regional authorities had previously harnessed their internal resources and the energies of their people to propel development, there arose a federal military government which shared the revenues from crude oil sales to states which were now administered not as autonomous federating units but as subsidiary and subordinate departments. The primacy of the federal government would be decisively established over the course of decades to the extent that local and regional autonomy became virtually politically incorrect.

Provoked by the internecine anarchy and violent political conflict that characterized the First Republic’s last days, the military resolved no federating unit should ever be strong enough to threaten national unity. Accordingly, the military literally dismantled most of the First Republic’s federal structures and adopted a new revenue allocation formula. The power to manage all natural resource (oil, gas, solid minerals) was vested exclusively in the Federal Government. Rights over revenues changed. The regions were divided into states which became the new allocative units for sharing the nation’s wealth. Consequently, the more ‘states’ any group could get, the higher their collective ‘share’ of the national cake. The fiscal viability of

the states themselves was not an issue. The verdict confronting now confronting us is that this form of oil-dependent unitarism has reached its expiry date.

Today, we are faced with the crippling l imitat ions of our “feeding bott le federalism.” An obscure and remote federal authority cannot purport to provide these benefits for all the population. It simply lacks the capacity and the reach to do so effectively in a country as heterogeneous and geographically expansive as Nigeria. The scale of demands are simply too great. We cannot manage and address the aspirations and concerns of over 167 million people from Abuja. This is one of the reasons why developmental efforts authored by the federal government, despite the huge sums committed to them by successive administrations have failed. Real development emanates from the people’s perceptions of their own problems and their willingness to take responsibility for solving them.

For development policies to work, the people have to take ownership of them and drive their execution. For this to be the case, the development goals have to be generated right at the grassroots by the citizenry and tally with their own needs and aspirations. It is a process that flows from the bottom to the top. The imperative is the restructuring of the Nigerian state in line with the core principles of decentralization – Subsidiarity, Fiscal Federalism and Cooperative Federalism; which provide for governance matters to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized authority capable of addressing the matter effectively. In other words, in the Nigeria of the future, the central government should have a subsidiary function, performing only tasks which cannot be effectively performed at a more immediate or local level. The various levels of government would thus interact cooperatively to solve common problems.

T h e N e c e s s i t y o f E c o n o m i c Diversification

A case can certainly be made that oil wealth has made us lazy and unimaginative given the bountiful resources with which Nigeria is blessed. Consider solid minerals and agriculture, two sectors brimming with potential but which have suffered great neglect because of the obsession with oil. In fact, agriculture is already this country’s biggest employer and could become even more significant if more effort is devoted to it. It could help address the problem of unemployment. Solid minerals are equally largely untouched.

However, the biggest resource we have is demographic. We have a youthful working age population that needs to have their energies unleashed. The challenge is to take this population and turn it into human capital to drive development. Zero-natural resource economies such as Japan have been able to successfully harness their human capital with great economic advancement to show for it. Already, the informal sectors as well as youth-led economic sectors such as Nollywood have proven that the Nigerian youth need little incentive from government to thrive. We can all therefore imagine what a functional power sector can do in stimulating creativity and industry at the grassroots. The successful reform of the power sector holds the key to unlocking the potential inherent in our country’s youth bulge. On the other hand, our failure to direct the energies of our teeming youth appropriately would keep them undermined and vulnerable to the inducement of being used as fodder in the cannon of fundamentalists who seek to destabilize our great country.

No country can prosper by being a net exporter of natural resources. Nigeria, like all mono-resource export economies is extremely vulnerable to fluctuations in world commodity prices. However wealthy

oil has made us now, we must understand that it is a finite resource. Its exploitation for sale is a primary economic activity that is subject to the laws of diminishing returns because natural resources are exhaustible or can be rendered irrelevant by innovation. Manufacturing is the key. We have to resuscitate our industries. The path of growth lies with value-added economic activities of manufacturing.

Diversity and Decentralization as two sides of the same Coin

The need to diversify our economy and the necessity of decentralizing the governance are coterminous imperatives. Indeed, one cannot occur without the other. We cannot diversify the economy without decentralizing governance. In the emergent post-oil-centered dispensation, a regime of fiscal federalism which devolves economic power to states and municipalities is now imperative. States have to depend on internally sourced revenue and taxable productive endeavour as against federal largesse. We must see that our prime economic resource is neither oil nor solid minerals but human capital – productive citizens whose entrepreneurial endeavours create wealth and whose taxes fund governance. The principal task of the government is to create an enabling environment that permits citizens to actualize their economic and entrepreneurial potential.

Thus, fiscal federalism incentivizes smart governance because unlike the current order in which state governors are judged by their ability to distribute patronage, a new order which offers scant resources for patronage immediately levies a demand on local elites to supply the developmental deliverables that make life meaningful. Fiscal federalism, by its very nature, incentivizes productivity and de-emphasizes patronage. By the same token, a tax-paying citizenry whose hard earned funds oil the machinery of public administration will necessarily motivated to adequately interrogate that administration, to ascertain how their taxes are being spent and to hold politicians accountable. In sum, economic diversification and political decentralization will have the effect of strengthening our democracy.

Since 1999, it has become increasingly clear that a number of our national developmental objectives now fall within the purview of states rather than the federal government. What we need now is for this recognition to become institutionalized through the devolution of powers and resources from the centre. As states are unshackled from federal control, they will become freer to engage in regional and inter-state collaborations to meet the scale of the demand on the ground.

We may not be able to re-establish the regional architecture of the First Republic today. State governments and local governments as presently constituted have existed long enough to have developed institutional and political lives of their own. Abolishing or reconfiguring them in order to recreate the regional dynamic of the First Republic will be politically onerous. But this does not mean that we cannot create forms of regional cooperation among political leaders, civil society actors and stakeholders to chart a path forward. Moreover, a confluence of economic, social and political pressures may make the transition towards regionalization a fait accompli. Economically unviable states will cease to exist by merging with others to form new regions and consequently regional hubs that will multiply the economy’s centres of gravity.

To be continued

•faYeMI

Continued from last edition

15 OSuN DefeNDeR Thursday, january 29, 2015

The Changed Face Of Osun

•an aerial view of the newly-constructed second bypass road of the Oba adesoji aderemi Road, Osogbo.

•another aerial view of the newly-constructed second bypass road of the Oba adesoji aderemi Road, Osogbo.

phototalk

Thursday, jaNuary 29, 2015

www.osundefender.org T h E 6 T h M O s T - V I s I T E d N E W s -

By yOMI OBadITaNTHE former British Prime Minister, Harold

Macmillan, delivered a historical speech in the parliament in South Africa on February 3, 1960 in Cape Town that is still relevant till date that “The wind of change is blowing through this continent. Whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact”. That change declared by Macmillan brought political independence to several African nations under the colonial government including Nigeria. Unfortunately, since our political independence but economic dependency, we have been ruled by reluctant leaders. Those who genuinely aspire for leadership never emerge or succeed. The first Prime Minister of Nigeria, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, wanted to be a parliamentarian, but the Sadauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, persuaded him to take up the mantle of leadership at independence. His records are there for historians to analyse.

The military putsh that terminated the First Republic was led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, but the leadership was eventually given to Major General Aguyi Ironsi, who never aspired or prepared for it and six months later, power changed hands and a young Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon got the power unprepared and unaspired for. Gowon failed and the records are there for us to read. Coups and counter-coups took place, but all other military leaders were reluctant ones. In 1978, the military rolled out programmes to disengage from government and allowed the politicians to come back. At the end of the election, Alhaji Shehu Aliyu Shagari became the President. Shagari failed and the military struck again because the president was incompetent and for the fact that he did not aspire for that office nor prepared himself for it . Shagari only aspired to become a senator but was forced to become president. In 1999, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was in prison only to be wooed by the militicians, to become the President. He got there and wasted the whole 8 years, chasing perceived and imaginary political adversaries, the remains are history.

In 2007, late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was contended with the gubernatorial seat, but in Obasanjo’s wisdom, he was forced on the nation. He died in office, and another reluctant Vice President stepped in. For the past six years now, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has been in the saddle but in the in the midst of oil-boom, the man cannot point to any transformation achievements. Our excess crude oil funds got depleted and from the $45 billion he met in the Excess Crude Oil Accounts (ECA), it has declined to $3.1billion today. Nigerians are panicking today as we never prepared for the rainy days, because a reluctant president was foisted on us by a godfather.

The Arab Spring that began in Algeria three years ago, passed through Libya into Egypt, Syria and still on in that part of the world, is gradually coming our way. Only fools will not be set, for it is inevitable. Just as Balarabe Musa stated when he was impeached in the 1980s that “We are today living interms of great changes. The old order is crumbling fast.

New system of life and activities are emerging. Our task here is to understand these changes and turn them toward human progress.” General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had tried to offer himself thrice to serve the nation as a civilian president, but had failed. But this time, the man like a moving train has once again canvassing for the top political job in the land. The incumbent President, though has constitutional right to re-contest for second term, but does his performance in the last six years deserves to be considered for reflection? He himself admitted that his generation has failed.

Jonathan has directly told the nation that stealing is not corruption. He further campaigned that jailing corrupt people will not change the nation. That if we would allow him a second term in office, he will use modern technology to block the thieves from stealing. That sounds strange! A man who knows how to do good and did not, the Bible says, is a sinner. Is it when all Nigerians have been left with empty treasuries and pauperised that Jonathan will do something? Most of those in the first front of his campaign are suspects before the court and under the EFCC prosecution in court. Will this group of people support him in chasing out thieves from our commonwealth? It is not

possible. The $20 billion NNPC money’s report

that was to be made public has not seen the light of the day. The Jonathan’s administration has become another Abacha government. Just few days ago, the former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, compared his own government with that of the present and declared his as administration of the saints. Yet, the Babaginda’s $21 billion oil windfall was a big stain on that regime.

Muhammadu Buhari represents the new order and we must allow the man to get to the seat through the votes. Jonathan’s administration is similar to former American President Warren G. Harding, whose administration was packed with corrupt officials until it was voted out by the people. The Osun Governor Rauf Aregbesola has continued to warn that the “the present government is bereaved of ideas. They represent the old order that has always hunger after power from independence till date. They represent darkness and the only way out is to vote them out come February 14, 2015 and vote-in General Muhammadu Buhari.” Speaking further, Aregbesola alleged that the proceeds from fraudulent sales of kerosene have been used by the PDP to fund President Jonathan’s campaign team and the Transformation Ambassadors of

Nigeria (TAN) and that the Federal Government deliberately sells a litre of kerosene to their members at N40.90k, while their agents sell to marketers at N95 per litre.

Nigeria’s economy that has been falsely described as the best in Africa is today is down and out. It has turned into a nightmare, due to rampant waste, with the Excess Crude Account being plundered. The

presidency acquired ten aircrafts within a year. While major oil-rich countries succeeded in building up reserves and save from the high oil prices and developed their nations, Nigeria could not point to any infrastructure or significant development the oil wealth was used for. Take for instance, Saudi Arabia last year put down $400 billion for infrastructure building plan. Algeria invested $55 billion in road infrastructure in 2015 to 2019, while Angola has just launched $1.6 billion tourism infrastructure plan. Unfortunately for Nigeria, while these oil producing nations were saving their crude oil excesses, we were spending ours and at the same time borrowing from various countries of the world. Our domestic debt is on the increase, due to bad leadership and corruption in high places.

The question for President Jonathan is: How did we get to this mess? How did other countries build their reserves, savings and infrastructure, but under your administration, we only succeeded in acquiring more debts and ruining our fragile economy. Former Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanudi was disgraced out of office for raising his voice over the missing $20 billion of oil money that was not remitted. The government that called for austerity measure at the same time proposing to spend N517.9million on meals and refreshments for the presidency, which is 42.9% higher than last year budget, as well as for the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation will spend N142.47 million. Yet this government wants to continue in office till all of us become refugees in our own country.

Those who are peddling falsehood against Buhari, an astute, firm and a man of integrity are merely wasting their time. Buhari, who was supposed to be collecting N23 million monthly like all other former Nigerian Heads of State, declined but for conscience sake opted to be collecting N2.3 million monthly, which was ten percent of the rejected monthly allowance. They should be reminded that the old order changeth, yielding place to new, and God fulfills Himself in many ways, lest one good custom should corrupt the world. We as a nation have become a laughing stock, even in the eyes of other nations that we midwifed to freedom; which include South Africa and Zimbabwe. Our people seeking greener pastures elsewhere are brutally murdered without retaliatory steps, either diplomatically or politically, simply because we are under a clueless leadership. Enough is enough, it is now that the wind of change must blow, and blow Jonathan and his cohorts away in order to usher-in a refreshing era.

OSUN DEFENDER is published by Moremi Publishing House Limited, Promise Point Building, Opposite Guaranty Trust Bank GTB, Gbongan Road, Osogbo, State of Osun. All correspondence to the Managing Editor, KOla OlabiSi, Telephone: 08033927286 (kolaolabisi@yahoo.com); Editor, KaYODE aGbaJE, Telephone: 0803-388-0205, E-mail: osundefender@yahoo.com, kayodeagbaje@yahoo.com. ISSN: 0794-8050.Website: www.osundefender.org.

Nigeria: Getting Set For The Wind Of Change

•BuHaRI