Homerun: Oyetola Refuses To Constitute Transition Committee 23 Days To Go

Ismaeel Uthman

IT is exactly 23 days to the expiration of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola’s administration in the State of Osun, counting from today, Friday, November 4.

The Governor and his deputy, Mr. Gboyega Alabi, have been packing their personal belongings from the Government House, Osogbo, OSUN DEFENDER gathered.

However, Oyetola has refused to constitute a transition committee that will see to the seamless transfer of power with relevant and adequate information on the affairs of the state to the Governor-elect, Sen. Ademola Adeleke.

The governor has not also congratulated Adeleke since his declaration as the winner of the July 16 governorship election.

Adeleke had on July 27, 2022 inaugurated his transition committee headed by Dr. Muyiwa Oladimeji.

The committee is to examine matters relating to state labour force, welfare of the people, payment of salaries, pensions and gratuity, review the current security architecture of the state and interface with relevant security agencies in order to ensure a seamless transition and ascertain facts and figures about the general state of affairs of the state.

Specifically, Adeleke directed the committee to ascertain the state of finances of the state, including funds from the federation allocation account, internally generated revenue, grants and other sources of income, and examine the present structure, finance, effectiveness of local government in the State of Osun, and make appropriate recommendations among others.

The transition committee had on October 27 submitted its interim report to Adeleke.

Oyetola was expected to have set up his own transition committee that will interface with that of Adeleke, but that has not been done as of the time of filing this report.

Reacting, the Chairman of Adeleke’s Transition Committee, Dr. Muyiwa Oladimeji, described Oyetola’s attitude as undemocratic and unsportsmanlike.

According to Oladimeji, Oyetola was not responsive to the transition committee, noting that all what the Governor is hiding will be exposed when Adeleke takes over.

He disclosed that the committee received information from some government officials while some others refused to cooperate with them.

The Chairman said: “The outgoing governor, Oyetola was not responsive to our transition committee.

“There are enough people in the civil service who quietly came to us. Whether he (Oyetola) likes it or not, when we take over the government, the officials that he did not allow to come will be summoned and they won’t have a choice than to come.

“However, we won’t allow that to slow us down in order to have a smooth transition.”

Oladimeji noted that Oyetola is behaving like the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, who threw decorum into the wind after failing to win his second term election.

He said: “Why the Iragbiji politician is a Trumpist is his attitude to the setting up of Transition Committee. Trump not only refused to set up a transition committee but barred appointed officials from relating with the Biden team.

“What has Governor Oyetola done? Worst than Trump’s conduct is happening as elaborate plans are being executed to ground the state after November 27.”

Commenting on the refusal of the governor to congratulate Adeleke, Muyiwa said: “The attitude of the governor is undemocratic, unsportsmanlike, uncivilized and does not portray him as a gentleman.

“It is ideal that when you contest an election with somebody and the person wins, then you should congratulate him. I am not surprised, most politicians in Nigeria don’t do that.”

Asking the governor to toe an honourable path, a political group, ‘Osun Youth 4 Atiku’, charged Oyetola to do the needful by congratulating Adeleke and cooperating with his transition committee.

The Director of Media of the group, Ebenezer Ige, in a statement on Wednesday, said Osun is a project that is bigger than anybody, stating that the governor should respect the will of the people and accept the outcome of the July 16 poll with faith.

Ige said: “Governor Oyetola should not behave like an opposition while in government. He should behave like a gentleman who have respect for the will of the people. The people have chosen Adeleke over him and he should accept that.

“The refusal of the governor to congratulate the Governor-elect, Sen. Ademola Adeleke, is nothing but a total disrespect of the people of the state. It amounts to social assault on the people of the state and we urge the governor to toe the honourable path by congratulating Adeleke.

“Also, the refusal of the governor to set up transition committee is undemocratic. It portrays him as a man that has sit-tight character and that is against the spirit of democracy. You cannot lose an election and be behaving as if you will continue to rule the state for life. That is condemnable.

“Governor Oyetola should be a gentleman both in look and character; accept the will of the people and move on.”