By Sodiq Lawal
Fellow brethren, It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Nigeria is out of recession! So, let all men of goodwill clink glasses in celebration of the valuable worth of a
country that will neither wear out nor rust out!
Having said that, to say that all is well with party politics in State of Osun, especially, as 2018 draws nearer, depends on which side the observer is looking at. Like Siamese twins, things are scarily looking up for the ruling party and the opposition is closer to fire than it is to frying pan.
The political lion and the economic bear are strategizing; even the wolves and the hyenas of our ethno-religious belongingness are waiting in the wings, desperately hoping to devour whatever remains of the country called Nigeria. It is therefore time Nigeria’s David woke up to the responsibility of killing the uncircumcised Philistines before they kill Nigeria dead. In my considered opinion, such an important task must start from the State of Osun! For all, I care, Peoples Democratic Party ,(PDP) brought us to this sorry past and it should not be allowed to take us for collective amnesiacs.
All about Osun is not a tale of woes. As a matter of fact, the state has gone too far to look back and credit must be given to the forward- looking governor. Within a very short period of seven years, Aregbesola has given a new hope of a state gloriously conquering, not miserably failing!
For example, while the state continues to pay sufficient attention to the education of its students, every teacher on its payroll now knows that he or she has the potentials to rise up to the topmost level of his or her career. Through activities of the Osun Broilers Outgrowers Programme Scheme, OBOPS, the state has not only “placed Osun second to Oyo State in broiler production in the country” , “about 1,000 farmers and over-3,000 food vendors” have also been gainfully employed.
In Osun, cases of Poliomyelitis are now consigned to the past due to the administration’s effective and extensive immunization initiatives. It will also interest readers to know that the state came 9th in the just- concluded National Youth Games with 9 Gold (including 3 Non- Scoring), 5 Silver and 4 Bronze medals, the first of its kind in a long while.
In ‘Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears’ , Tom Lutz wrote: “Professional mourners have not so much disappeared over the last millennium; they have simply donned robes and stopped crying.” To be fair to posterity, it is because of who we are that we are where we are! For example, even if APC is such “a coat of many clouds” and PDP, “a blind giant groping in the dark” , have we ever tasked those condemning the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to contemplate Nigeria’s present state had Goodluck Jonathan remained in power beyond 2015?
On the other hand, how do we draw a healthy line of distinction between social welfare and ‘stomach infrastructure’ and why should a man with the handkerchief be found in a sweating mode? Again, who is a better politician: one who builds bridges across the Niger through massive investment in his people’s future or one who merely ‘constructs bridges’ across the stomach?
Well, Aregbesola’s strides in the midst of the opposition’s brickbats bring to memory the Story of the Twelve Spies. Of the twelve sent out to “explore the Promised Land and give a report to Moses and the people” , only two – Joshua and Caleb – actually came back with a report of hope and possession as contrasted with the frightening arrogation of largeness, fortification and power to the city and its occupants by the other explorers. But then, God’s promise of giving the land to His chosen ones was not unfulfilled. Even at that, my Bible didn’t tell me that the spies’ return to the Wilderness of Paran at the end of their assignment put a lid on the plight of the Israelites on their way to New Jerusalem. May principalities and powers, assigned to rubbish our leaders’ efforts, backfire!
No doubt, the only party where lies effective transformation like we all are witnessing today in the State of Osun is the All Progressives Congress (APC). The current situation in the state of Osun is progress in all her Sectors. From infrastructural development, to agricultural development, to education, improved health sector, Urban renewal, job creation, youth and women empowerment and many other developmental projects.
With all sincerity, what we need now is continuity to the effective transformational plans of the present Government led by Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. He is a good leader which he has demonstrated over the years in deeds, words and actions.
Undoubtedly, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has brought to the doorstep of every household a dividend of democracy. He has made Osun a reference point to effective developments.
It might interest us to know that apart from Lagos State, Osun remains the only State that has concentrated the largest chunk of her resources to bring meaningful development on education. Ogbeni’s administration has constructed new 70-State-of-the-art educational facilities for elementary, middle and high School Pupils/ Students with a complementary renovation of additional 1,500 Classrooms. Timely approval and construction of over 1000kms of rural and Urban roads, programs such as O-YES ( Osun Youth empowerment Scheme) has produced 40,000 jobs to teeming Youths in Osun, which has drastically reduced the unemployment rate according to publication of the National Bureau of Statistics as also recognised by the World Bank.
Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has consciously improved Osun in all sectors, hence, the hope for Osun State lies in the continuity of the present APC government and adequate support to whoever wins the ticket to succeed the Governor in Office.
