Dele Adeleke obtains Osun PDP Governorship Forms, Promises to re-Engineer Osun

Published by  New Dawn Magazine.

Speech by Mr. Bamidele David Adeleke after obtaining his Expression of Interest and Nomination for Osun gubernatorial election ahead of 2022.

"My fellow people of Osun,

The forthcoming 2022 Governorship election in our State is not just another election year, but a year when we decisively take action to move our State away from the precipice.

You will recall the buildup to the 2018 Governorship election, we were almost speaking with one accord in our quest for a more focused leadership to emerge that will put Osun back on the track of growth and development. I remember with sadness, how the APC government plundered the State, putting her in needless financial and human capital distress. 

We spoke truly in 2018, loud and clear, against the continuity of the APC government. Our efforts at enthroning a different leadership were scuttled partly by the wrong choices we made, by the complicity of those who chose cowardice and inaction in the face of injustice, thereby giving room for the powers that be to use the instrumentality of electoral manipulations, thuggery and “remote control” to forcefully grab power.  What they made of this mandate that they forcefully took is the bad governance that we see today.

Instead of a decisively progressive government, what we got is this lukewarm, ill-motivated government that has today done nothing more than regurgitate the regrettable ideas of its predecessor. Where they have reversed any of the past government’s actions, the motivation as we all have seen, is deeply rooted in the continued prosecution of their intra-party supremacy battles, leaving Osun at the mercy of increasing poverty and insecurity occasioned by bad politics.

The difference between life under a PDP government and that of this APC misadventure is definitely clear to all of us now.

PDP delivered true development. Our party made sure development was closer to the people, while resource distribution was a lot more equitable through the autonomy and effectiveness of the Local Government in the management of their own affairs. Trunk C roads that served food producing communities and other rural locations were constructed and promptly maintained. However, what we have had since 2010 that the APC administration came, has been a moribund Local Government system. This is why rural dwellers are today living like they are not part of the Osun project. I dare say, that no State can truly develop without adequate Rural- Peri Urban - Urban integration.

You will also recall, that the issues of civil and teaching service welfare were never so complicated under the government of the PDP led by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola. Prompt salary payment was not a rarity as we now have today. The Defined Benefits Scheme for Pension management had no hitches; workers would retire and get their benefits promptly paid. Today, under a Contributory Pension Scheme, after pension deductions were already taken from workers’ salaries, they still have to wait, suffer and some unfortunately die, before their retirement benefits are processed. Our aged citizens now have to spend hours under scorching sun protesting to get their rightful entitlements. How do we spill the blood of our elders and hope to be truly great?.

I will not forget to remind us, that the humongous debt profile of the state is being worsened by the day. As statutory deductions are made on one hand at source, the government of Gov. Gboyega Oyetola became obsessed with the Alternate Project funding approach, which is just a fancy way of describing Contractor financing. In simpler terms, we are owing contractors on projects like the Gbongan-Akoda (N29.3bn), the Osogbo-Kwara (N17.8bn) boundary road dualization project both increasing our debt profile by N47.1Billion. Where the present government should radically re-engineer the State’s finances, it is finding fancier ways to borrow. One is constrained to ask, that if the debts continue to pile in this manner, is our State not being pushed into total collapse?

A few weeks ago we were all shocked with the news concerning the structural defects and integrity weakness of the mega school buildings that cost Billions which otherwise could have been spent for the improvement of the people’s livelihood. The wastefulness is further worsened by the fact that this present government will have to expend more State funds on fixing faults that should never have existed. What a tragedy! This is what the APC represents – misplacement of priorities and mismanagement of scarce state resources.

One thing is clear to even the people who are in power today - Osun state needs urgent re-engineering. Financially, Administratively, Politically and Socially, we need a new direction, a new mindset, a new thinking and a new approach to solving our problems. We need a new order!

This new order is what ‘Dele Adeleke represents. 

I am coming into this race with three decades of hard-earned working experience in corporate financial re-engineering, project management and human resource management. My professional qualifications and proven track record of practical industry exposure have prepared me for challenging situations like the one Osun is presently mired, I am eminently qualified, competent and ready to undertake the re-engineering and repositioning that Osun so urgently needs. Therefore, I offer myself in service to be the vessel of upliftment, the ladder of ascension to the progress and prosperity of our beloved state.

In addition, coming from a family that has over the years proven her commitment to social development, my ancestry and indeed my personal engagements across the state make me eminently ready for the task of service to the people of Osun State, as Governor. 

Picking up my nomination form is the first step in the long journey towards wrestling power from the incumbent APC. Having taken this first step, I declare my readiness to do all that it will constructively take, to win the confidence of all stakeholders, leaders and teeming party faithful to be elected as the PDP Flagbearer, go on to win the Governorship election and ultimately deliver great service to the people of our dear State.

We must halt the retrogression of our dear State under the mismanagement of the APC. We must re-engineer, rebuild and reposition. We must salvage and make sense of all that we have left now, to build a today that is blissful for us and a future that our children can be proud to be part of.

Finally, this is an urgent call to the good people of Osun, a call to the oppressed, the deprived, the downtrodden and particularly the youths’ yearning for a better future. A revolution has started, a time to say No to any form of oppression, a time to rise up to action and rescue our dear state.

 Do not just complain, ACT! 

Please join hands with me, support this movement to birth a new dawn of prosperity. Let us stand firm and undeterred in our conviction to set Osun on the path of sustainable development.

Together we will achieve this great feat!

I thank you and I count on your ACTION and SUPPORT in our collective bid to reengineer, rebuild and reposition our beloved state. 

This is the Dawn of a new era.  …… Igba Otun ti de!

Bamidele Adeleke

PDP Governorship Aspirant, Osun State

10th December, 2021