- ‘Oyetola Sold Lautech Because He Lacks Managerial Skill’
Hon. Sunday Bisi, the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State spoke to ISMAEEL UTHMAN and SODIQ YUSUF on sundry issues on the party’s affairs and Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration. Excerpt:
THE APC has consistently accused Governor Adeleke of running government by autopilot, among other criticisms. What is your assessment of the governor’s style of governance?
Let me tell you one thing about APC, their propaganda cannot be matched by anybody. They are experts in telling and feeding people with lies. That is what they believe in. They are not good in governance. When they are outside, they do a lot of talking. But bring them into government, they will fumble. That is APC for you. They are so good at telling people lies. When they are in opposition, they will be crying wolf. If someone just came in and within 18 months, he has done what could not be done in 12 years without borrowing a kobo, they should be praising the person. Upon their borrowing, they cannot justify one thing that they did in 12 years. The more they criticise us, the more Ademola Adeleke is working. The APC underrated Adeleke. They thought he could not perform. Now that they are seeing what he is doing, they are now telling lies against him. We are not bothered; we are not perturbed. We will continue dishing out dividends of democracy to the good people of Osun State who voted for us.
Adeleke’s style of governance is pleasing; he is so humane and open in governance. He is running an inclusive government. The APC should be ashamed that a person they underrated is clearing their mess.
Ideologically, the party should be the driver of the government, but there are insinuations that the authority of your party and indeed that of the government lies with Yeye Dupe Adeleke-Sanni, the elder sister to the governor, how true is this?
Yeye Dupe Adeleke has nothing to do with the party or the government. I can tell you that one for free. I am not a dunce; I am not a mediocre, I am well-read. I am one of the founders of this party. We started this party together in 1998. I know what it takes to run a party of this nature. I do not take orders from anyone. The party and the government are working hand-in-hand. For instance, when the commissioners were to be appointed, the Governor consulted the party. We held a stakeholders’ meeting at this secretariat. We asked leaders to produce one commissioner each from their federal constituencies. They all sat down to nominate those commissioners you are seeing. That is to tell you that we don’t take instructions from anyone. So, Yeye Dupe Adeleke is not involved in the running of this administration.
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In what ways would you say the PDP administration differs from the APC government?
The Oyetola administration abandoned all the projects started by Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, he didn’t touch them. We have continued those projects, and others started by Oyetola himself, and we are completing them. The past administration did not also complete any project it started. The issue of LAUTECH is still an eyesore till today. Anytime I remember the episode as an Osun indigene, I always feel sad. Successive administrations in Oyo and Osun had successfully managed the joint owned LAUTECH, but when Oyetola came in, they muted the idea of selling LAUTECH to Oyo State at a ridiculous amount of N8 billion. I can tell you authoritatively that, as of today, Oyo State has only paid a sum of N3 billion out of the money agreed. It is absurd! LAUTECH which was established with our sweat has been taken away from us just like that because of the managerial inability of Oyetola to handle the situation well. I would not know why Oyetola decided to sell a thriving university at a ridiculous N8 billion. If you look at the ranking of LAUTECH in Nigeria, that university has made a name for itself. Even, the name is worth more than N8 billion, not to mention the assets of that university. You can imagine what has happened to us in Osun State.
It is 16 months since your party started administering the state with Senator Ademola Adeleke as the Governor. Would you say the PDP administration has met the expectations of the people on governance?
We have fulfilled and we are fulfilling our electoral promises. During the BBC debate before the 2022 governorship election, Sen. Ademola Adeleke spelled out his five-point agenda, and he has been keeping faith with it. We are on track. We have fulfilled and still fulfilling the promises we made to the people.
From the issue of education; Adeleke’s administration has rehabilitated some selected schools in all the local governments of the state. Aside from that, we also intervened in Osun State University. There was a time when the NUC threatened to stop all the science courses because the school was not meeting the requirements of the commission. The Governor rose to the occasion; and today, things are going fine in that school. The VC of the university said that in 12 years, the APC government did not erect any building in the school and Adeleke has done that. On the University of Ilesa, the immediate past governor Adegboyega Oyetola, on the eve of his exit, made a pronouncement on the university without any financial backing, thinking he wanted to set a landmine for the incoming administration. How do you establish a university without making any budgetary provision for it?
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When Oyinlola established UNIOSUN, he made a provision of N2 billion as of then for the take-off of the university. Local governments were also contributing five percent of their allocations to the university every month through a law enacted by the House of Assembly. That made the university start on a strong footing, unlike that of Oyetola. But today, the University of Ilesa has taken off; it has matriculated its first set of 1,000 students, and is running 32 programmes, including Law and Nursing. For the first time in the history of the NUC, when a university is established, they give you 50 students for Nursing, but the commission gave UNILESA 150 students. The university is running well and I know that in the shortest possible time, they will accredit more courses for the university.
What of the N100 billion infrastructure plan? We met many uncompleted projects. For example, the projects started by Aregbesola were not continued by Oyetola. However, Adeleke concentrated on the completion of abandoned projects. Examples are the Osogbo/Ikirun Road, Ilesa Garage/Oke-Baale/Testing Ground Road. There is a radical departure from where those people left those roads. Aside from that, we are also working on a 1.5km road in every local government in the State, and the Old-Garage-Oke-Fia-Lameco road with an overhead bridge is in progress. Not only that, Ede is wearing a new look. We have started the dualisation of roads and overhead bridges.
Last week, we were at Ilesa to flag off the Ereja Palace Square-Okesa-Brewery Road-Akure Expressway Road. On Tuesday, we flagged off the Lagere junction flyover in Ile-Ife. So, we are busy working, turning the face of Osun around. Our people are happy.
Within 18 months, we have done what the APC governor couldn’t do. We have paid six out of the 30 months’ salary arrears of modulated salaries owed by the APC government. We are paying salaries and pensions regularly and touching lives. We have attended to contributory pensioners, paid gratuity, and cash-backed all of the promotions done before we came in. The workers now get their promotions as and when due.
On health, we have the Imole Free Medical Outreach, in which over 50,000 people have benefited. Then, there is the Osun Health Insurance Scheme that the government has strengthened.
A former governorship aspirant in your party in 2022, Omooba Dotun Babayemi, recently formed a group named Atunto (of PDP). He is set to officially join the APC with his followers. Isn’t this a result of the disintegration of the party, or what is your perception of it?
Dotun Babayemi and Akin Ogunbiyi are no longer our party members, and we have not missed them, and we are not going to miss any of them. Akin Ogunbiyi left the party years ago after the 2018 election. In 2022, he was the gubernatorial candidate of the Accord Party. He is defecting from the Accord Party and not from the PDP. Dotun Babayemi has been expelled from this party since 2022, this is 2024. Two years later, someone who has been expelled from his ward, local government, state, and the national level of the party is now claiming to be leaving the PDP. Which party is he leaving? We are not going to miss him. We don’t want him in this party. He is a destroyer, a serial decampee. He was in APC, from where he joined ADP. He came to PDP, and we sent him away two years ago. We did not miss him; we don’t need him in PDP.
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Aside Babayemi and Ogunbiyi, Alh. Fatai Akinbade, the former SSG of the state is reported to be leaving PDP. Isn’t it why you called for the elders caucus meeting at the Government House?
The meeting we held on Sunday at the Government House was not the first that we held recently. There was a time when the governor, myself, and two leaders went around to meet former governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Akinbade. Issues of defection weren’t on the ground then. Ordinarily, the elders’ caucus meeting was supposed to be held once in a while. So, we held our own at the Government House. It has nothing to do with Babayemi or defection. Akinbade is not defecting. He said it himself at the meeting. He has been out of this party twice and he is back to PDP for good. Oyinlola had been with the APC before he came back. If they had treated them well, they would not have come back. There is nothing like Oyinlola and Akinbade defecting from the PDP. It is a figment of those carrying the rumour about Oyinlola and Akinbade’s false defection plan.
Almost two years to the 2026 governorship election, both PDP and APC members have already been laying claim to victory. Isn’t the PDP threatened by the APC being the national ruling party and the defection of your members to the APC?
If it did not give us sleepless nights in 2022 when APC was at the federal, state, and local government levels, why will it give us any fear now with our performance? The people will decide. The people decided and voted for us in 2022, and we have not disappointed them for a day. I can assure you that by the time the 2026 election is held, we are going to lead the APC with over 100,000 votes. I bet that with you. What are they doing? They are in a mess. Let them present whoever they want to present, I can tell you confidently that we are going to defeat them hands down in 2026. If they like, they should bring someone outside Osun State, let them come together and present someone. We will defeat them.
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PDP is in crisis at the national level. What is the fate of the party?
The party ruled for 16 years and left an indelible mark on the sands of history. The party is the only one that has not changed its name since its inception. I know PDP will come out stronger from this present self-inflicted problem. It is the party members wagging war against the party. I don’t see a reason why after you have benefitted from a party for 16 years you just decided to leave the party and go to another party, is there any sense in that? If you go abroad, to America or Britain, their system does not allow people to cross-carpet anyhow. I know and I am sure that PDP cannot die, PDP will not die, and we will come out stronger of this crisis. The leadership of the party is working on it. Very soon, you will hear from us.
