By Israel Afolabi
Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has said that the current spate of development being experienced in Osun will continue if the ruling All Progressives Congress is voted back into power in the forth coming gubernatorial elections in the state.
He said the only state that has so far witnessed steady and continuous growth since the beginning of the current democracy in the country is Lagos state which has always been ruled by the All Progressives Congress for over 16 years.
Aregbesola spoke in Ile-Ife during a town hall meeting with the people of Ife federal constituency held at the Sijuade.
Aregbesola who described the APC as the light which has come to liberate Osun from backwardness, said the party if elected back to continue the governance in the state is ready to continue bringing the dividends of democracy to the down trodden in the state.
The Governor who warned the people of the ancient town of the dangers in allowing the People’s Democratic Party back into the saddle of leadership stated that the PDP has never been known for anything good just as he said the party is dead and buried.
He urged the people of Ile-Ife to be cautious and careful so that they will not be deceived into making the mistake of allowing the current spate of development of the state by the APC come to end as the PDP are all out to deceive people once again.
The governor who stressed that his motivating factor to continue to bring the dividends of democracy is the smiles on the faces of the down trodden explained that the debt profile of the state being brandished by mischief makers should not worry anybody as the state has a lot of developmental projects to show for it.
He explained that any individual or society that is not ready to incur debt is not likely to develop, while sighting the case of the United States of America where everybody wants to go as the most indebted country in the world and yet is the most developed.
Aregbesola then called on members of the ruling APC in the state to forget their differences and close their ranks for the party to become stronger and make it difficult for any other political party to defeat it in the coming elections, stressing that the party cannot afford to lose the state to the opposition for the sake of Osun people who don’t want to experience retrogression again.
He advised members of the party to always have the masses at heart in whatever decision they take or are about to take as it would go a long way in determining the future, saying the party would disappoint a lot of the masses if it fails to put its house in order and defeat every opposition in the coming polls.
According to Aregbesola, “the only party that can guarantee the current spate of development we are witnessing in Osun is the All Progressives Congress and we must ensure that we do everything humanly possible to ensure that we come out victorious in the coming polls.
“We are the only party that can do it, we have done it before and we are ready to replicate what is going on in Lagos in Osun. The state that has witnessed continuous development in Nigeria since the inception of the current democratic rule in Nigeria is Lagos which has been continually ruled by the APC.
“We can and we are ready to do this in Osun as well, we should not be careless to allow the PDP or any other opposition party to take over the governance of this state because it will spell doom for our people, the PDP has never been known for anything good in Nigeria, whatever they touch is destroyed, so we should not allow them to come back.
In an address, a representative of the APC elders council, Chief Sooko Adewoyin expressed the happiness of the elders council towards the governor, saying he has done what the elders have asked for in terms of developing the state from where the APC met it about seven and half years ago.
While urging party members to close ranks for the benefit of all, the elder stateman said standing by the principles of the party remains the only way Osun can progress, while calling on all to always put the growth of the state first.
Also speaking, the state party chairman, Prince Adegboyega Famoodun said the town hall meeting became necessary because of the need to show appreciation to members of the party who have stood by the governor and the party in the past seven and half years of developing Osun.
He said the party is ready to do more for the people of the state, hence the need to do everything possible to allow APC to continue to rule the state.
