Osun state governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke has said that the administration of former governor of the state, Rauf Aregbesola was the worst in the history of life.
Adeleke noted that Aregbesola left a legacy of huge state debt, half salary, scam tablets and several fanciful, inflated, uncompleted projects, describing his tenure as “the worst in Osun history.”
Adeleke stated this in a statement issued Monday by Spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, while reacting to Aregbesola’s threats by Aregbesola to remove him from office in 2026, saying that Osun was still suffering from the inhumane maladministration he inflicted on the state while in office.
He noted: “The empty boast of Mr Aregbesola about 2026 is a symptom of a troubled mind who sees wrong vision, who is battling his benefactor and who is haunted by the pains and suffering he inflicted on millions of Osun people through his evil policies and programmes.
“A man who should be remorseful and tender public apologies for his years of maladministration has the audacity to threaten Governor Adeleke who is clearing the mess left behind by Mr Aregbesola after his eight years of anti-people, thoughtless leadership.
“Mr Aregbesola’s wickedness against workers, public servants, and Osun people knows no bounds while he wielded state power.
“A man who introduced half salary, misapplied contributory state pension fund and misused state cooperative deductions fund should be ashamed of his temerity to attack a Governor who is now paying up the half salary affliction, clearing the unjustified debt and rehabilitating brutalised Osun workers.
“The Adeleke administration has paid 28 months out of the half salary left behind by Mr Aregbesola. The present administration has paid close to 60 billion naira in pension debt, a legacy of this same Aregbesola.
“Pensioners and workers generally are not praying for a return to the evil days of a bad administrator who left his state in ruin after eight years.”
Adeleke noted that within less than three years he has surpassed the delivery of the eight years of Aregbesola without borrowing a kobo for infrastructure projects.
He stressed that the current administration has reduced Osun debt left by Aregbesola by 40 per cent as confirmed by the Debt Management Office.
Adeleke added: “Mr Aregbesola is invited to note that Governor Adeleke has constructed about 200 Kilometers of roads, rehabilitated over 200 schools and health centers, placed over 30, 000 pensioners on free health insurance care, provided critical medical surgeries to over 60,000 Osun residents, Completed several abandoned projects at Osun State University, made University of Ilesa a reality among several others.
“If Mr Aregbesola is to accuse Governor Adeleke of non-performance, we await his review of the dualisation of palace to brewery junction at Ilesa which he failed to achieve while in office. He should check out the flyover projects at Ile Ife and Osogbo and the dualisation projects ongoing at Iwo among others.
“Osun people know their present and past Governors. Our people are smart enough to know that the worst era for Osun state is that of Mr Aregbesola under whom many pensioners lost their lives, thousands of lives were disrupted, and the state plunged into unsustainable debt that is still hurting the state till date. No voter in Osun is ready for a return to the dark days.
“We therefore dismiss Mr Aregbesola’s boast as a blurry vision of another world other than Osun where Governor Adeleke has received accolades and awards for delivering on good governance and where Osun people have appreciated the local content policy, the non-borrowing policy, and the people’s first style of the current governor.
“Mr Aregbesola is a shrew (Asin ti o mo pe ohun unrun) who does not know that he is smelling. 2026 is a payback time when Osun people will punish the former Governor and his new party for wilfully inflicting pains and suffering on Osun people throughout his eight years rule.”