The relative relationship between Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, and the former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, appears to have turned sour, as the incumbent governor on Monday blasted him, describing his tenure as “the worst in Osun history.”
The governor, according to a statement by his spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed in Osogbo, said he was reacting to Aregbesola’s threats to remove him from office in 2026, even as Osun is still suffering from the inhumane maladministration inflicted on the state during his time in office.
He castigated the former governor as “a man who left a legacy of huge state debt, half salaries, scam learning tablets (Opon Imo), and several fanciful, inflated, uncompleted projects”, describing his tenure as “the worst in Osun history.”
“The empty boast of Mr Aregbesola about 2026 is a symptom of a troubled mind who sees wrong visions, who is battling his benefactor, and who is haunted by the pains and suffering he inflicted on millions of Osun people through his evil policies and programmes. A man who should be remorseful and tender public apologies for his years of maladministration has the audacity to threaten Governor Adeleke, who is clearing the mess he left behind after his eight years of anti-people, thoughtless leadership.
“Mr Aregbesola’s wickedness against workers, public servants, and Osun people knows no bounds while he wielded state power. A man who introduced half salaries, misapplied the contributory state pension fund, and misused the state cooperative deductions fund should be ashamed of his temerity to attack a governor who is now paying up the half salary affliction, clearing the unjustified debt, and rehabilitating brutalised Osun workers.
“The Adeleke administration has paid 28 months of the half salaries left behind by Mr Aregbesola. The present administration has paid close to ₦60 billion in pension debt, a legacy of this same Aregbesola. Pensioners and workers generally are not praying for a return to the evil days of a bad administrator who left his state in ruins after eight years,” the statement noted.
According to him, “Within less than three years, Governor Adeleke has surpassed the government delivery of the eight years of Mr Aregbesola without borrowing a kobo for infrastructure projects. The current administration has reduced Osun’s debt, left by Mr Aregbesola, by 40 per cent as confirmed by the Debt Management Office.”
“Mr Aregbesola is invited to note that Governor Adeleke has constructed about 200 kilometres of roads, rehabilitated over 200 schools and health centres, placed over 30,000 pensioners on free health insurance care, provided critical medical surgeries to over 60,000 Osun residents, completed several abandoned projects at Osun State University, and made the University of Ilesa a reality, among several others.
“If Mr Aregbesola is to accuse Governor Adeleke of non-performance, we await his review of the dualisation of the Palace to Brewery Junction at Ilesa, which he failed to achieve while in office. He should check out the flyover projects at Ile Ife and Osogbo, and the dualisation projects ongoing at Iwo, among others.
“Osun people know their present and past governors. Our people are smart enough to know that the worst era for Osun State is that of Mr Aregbesola, under whom many pensioners lost their lives, thousands of lives were disrupted, and the state was plunged into unsustainable debt that is still hurting the state to date. No voter in Osun is ready for a return to the dark days.
“We, therefore, dismiss Mr Aregbesola’s boast as a blurry vision of another world other than Osun, where Governor Adeleke has received accolades and awards for delivering on good governance, and where Osun people have appreciated the local content policy, the non-borrowing policy, and the people-first style of the current governor.
“Mr Aregbesola is a shrew (Asin tí ò mọ̀ pé òun ń rùn) who does not know that he is smelling. 2026 is payback time when Osun people will punish the former governor and his new party for wilfully inflicting pain and suffering on Osun people throughout his eight-year rule,” he submitted.
