Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, is under fire after being seen dancing at a high-profile event in Abuja, just hours after declaring a three-day mourning period for the late Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja.
The late Army Chief, a prominent son of Osun State from Ilobu in Irepodun Local Government Area, passed away last week Tuesday following an illness, leaving the country in mourning.
Governor Adeleke had declared a three-day mourning period in the state, beginning last Thursday, in honour of the late Lagbaja.
Adeleke also directed that flags be flown at half-mast in the state during the three-day mourning period.
However, in a statement on Monday signed by Osun State Director of Media and Information of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Kola Olabisi said that the Governor, after declaring the 3-day mourning and visiting the family of the late Lagbaja, was sighted at the gala night in commemoration of the commissioning of the multi-million naira Law Corridor in Abuja owned by one of the PDP chieftains in Osun State, Mr Pelumi Jacob Olajengbesi, Esq, where he was dancing to the lyric of the King of Fuji music, Wasiu Ayinde Marshal.
According to the statement, “The rate at which the Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke is projecting the image of the state for negative reasons leaves much to be desired and calls for an urgent attention.
“This is why we are seizing this opportunity to call on both the extended, biological and political families of the governor to caution the number one man in the state to behave in a manner that befits the exalted office of a state governor.
“Ideally, this period is a trying time for all the indigenes of Osun State following the sudden loss of one of our illustrious sons, Lieutenant-General Taoreed Lagbaja, the Chief of Army Staff who hailed from Ilobu in Irepodun Local Government Council Area of the state, whose sudden death was announced to the world on Tuesday, November 5th, 2024 after a protracted sickness.
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“Governor Adeleke, as an afterthought declared a three-day mourning period on Thursday afternoon, starting from the same Thursday, November 7th to Saturday 9th, 2024 through a statement by his Commissioner for Information, Mr Kolapo Alimi, to mourn the late Chief of Army Staff, with a directive that half-mast flags should be flown in the state during the same period.
“Sequel to much pressure from the major opposition party All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, Governor Adeleke in the company of his late elder brother’s wife that he appointed State Commissioner for Federal Affairs, Mrs Nike Adeleke, made a condolence visit to the widow of the departed, Mrs Mariya Lagbaja, where he promised the widow that the state would not abandon her and his children during their travail.
READ: Lagbaja’s Death, Huge Loss To Osun – Adeleke
“Surprisingly, few hours after his condolence visit to the widow of the fallen COAS in the same Abuja, Governor Adeleke was sighted at the gala night in commemoration of the commissioning of the multi-million naira Law Corridor in Abuja owned by one of the PDP chieftains in Osun State, Mr Pelumi Jacob Olajengbesi, Esq. where he was dancing hilariously with gregariousness to the lyric of the King of Fuji music, Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, amidst conviviality in a conversable manner in the company of the state Speaker of the House of Assembly, the Right Honourable Adewale Olumide Egbedun, the content of green bottle-loving state PDP chairman, Mr Sunday Bisi, and other political functionaries of the PDP extraction in Osun State.
“The post-condolence activities of Governor Adeleke in Abuja were indicative of the fact that he was at the late Lagbaja’s widow’s house not to mourn genuinely but rather to feign the fulfilment of all the righteousness in a manner that was devoid of display of empathy in such a tragic event.
“We, as a party, would not like to make the sudden death of Lieutenant-General Taoreed Lagbaja a political issue but would not at the same time fail to point out that based on the unsavoury happenings after the condolence visit, it would not be out of tune to observe, state and conclude that Adeleke was at the late Lagbaja’s residence to shed crocodile tears which was not acceptable to us.
“The dancing segment of the law office commissioning was indeed a show of shame as our own Osun State governor was wriggling his massive body, bending backward and forward in a manner suggestive that nothing untoward had happened to the state he has been governing for two years’ running.
“Is it not funny that while Governor Adeleke directed a three-day mourning period in Osun State over the death of the Chief of Army Staff, he was digging it out with his partners in misdemeanors in far away Abuja few kilometres to where he had gone to pay a condolence message!
“We wonder those who are thinking for Governor Adeleke to have recommended for him such level and intensity of partying and jollification while his three-day mourning period was still in progress over the death of one of our illustrious sons in the state?
“There was nothing to show that Governor Adeleke meant with all intents and purposes, genuine consolation over the death of Lagbaja as he would not be dancing and wining during the three-day mourning period declared by him.
“We found it illogical, disturbing and bizarre that it was when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu directed the postponement of the Federal Executive Council(FEC) meeting till another date and subsequently ordered that flags should be flown at half-mast nationwide for seven days in honour of the departed Army General that his state governor thought it wise, appropriate and rational to engage in a wild dancing spree in Abuja.
“While we are condemning in its totality the conduct and disposition of Governor Adeleke towards the death of Lt. Gen Lagbaja, we are enjoining the members of the governor’s family to step up their level of genuine advice for the dancing governor who has a record of attracting shame to the state instead of honour.
“It will interest discerning minds with active conscience to know the efforts put up by Governor Adeleke to reach out to the fallen Chief of Army Staff as an illustrious son of his state when he was still sick before he eventually died ?.”
Sodiq Yusuf is a trained media practitioner and journalist with considerable years of experience in print, broadcast, and digital journalism. His interests cover a wide range of causes in politics, governance, sports, community development, and good governance.
