Osogbo—There is palpable tension in Osun State as some prominent citizens of the state under the aegis of Osun Stakeholders, OS, say it is planning to hold a summit aimed at finding solutions to problems bedevilling the state on Thursday in Osogbo.

GOV. RAUF AREGBESOLA

SATURDAY

But the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC is alleging that the summit is politically motivated and urged security agencies to perform their duties of maintenance of law and order.

Addressing newsmen ahead of the summit, a former Osun State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Niyi Owolade, said it will involve 250 delegates that will include all former governors, national and state assembly members from the state.

Owolade said both ruling APC, and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, will nominate 20 delegates each, while other political parties in the state will be represented by 20 delegates.

According to him, Governor Rauf Aregbesola and officials of his administration were not given personal invitation so as to give the gathering no political inclination and enable it achieve the already set goals.

The governor, Owolade said may attend the summit, if nominated among APC delegates.

Also contributing, Mr Yinka Odumakin, blamed the myriads of economic problems facing Osun in recent time on lack of right ideas in managing its affairs and stressed that this was what informed the idea of the summit, where issues affecting the state will be dissected and solutions proffered to them.

He noted that the summit was not meant to apportion blame or score cheap political points, but to assist the government tackle some difficult problems.

Planned summit, a ploy to forment trouble – APC

Reacting, the APC called on security agents to keep a close watch on the summit.

“The APC has called on security agents to be doubly alert and keep a close watch on the so-called ‘Summit on Education and Finance’ planned for Thursday in Osogbo by Senator Iyiola Omisore, the Osun PDP and its surrogates christened Osun Stakeholders,” it said.

According to a statement by the APC Director of Publicity and Strategy, mr kunle Oyatomi, the summit was a ploy intended to beat security and create the atmosphere for mayhem, which the security agencies had foiled on several occasions.

“The APC called attention to the fact that since the strike action of civil servants and teachers, the PDP had attempted on several occasions under spurious camouflage to create a situation of insecurity in Osun that is basically peaceful.

“The APC therefore, advised all lovers of peace and security in the state to be careful, not to get trapped in a potentially violent situation that the PDP is trying to create through a voodoo summit.

“The APC wondered: since when the PDP became concerned about education in the state, for it had all the opportunity in seven years to put education in the front burner, but left the sector to rot, until Governor Aregbesola came in.

“Yinka Odumakin and the rest of the conveners participating in the so-called Summit do not have any superior contribution to make that could replace what Prof. Wole Soyinka, erudite professors and other professionals in education had given to the Aregbeosola-led government.

“The Wole Soyinka-led Summits’ advice and recommendation on how to reposition education in Osun is beyond what Omisore, PDP, and the so-called stakeholders can ever produce.

“On the question of finance, which the summit purport to discuss, the APC said that the conveners lack any moral, political, professional or ethical basis to venture into that area.

“In 90 months of their rule, they were limited to N300 million internally generated revenue, whereas in about 40 months of Aregbesola’s administration, he raised the IGR five times as much without imposing any additional tax.

“Besides, the APC has it on good authority that the purpose of the summit is to create an atmosphere that can lead condusive to chaos and that the majority of those who will attend that summit are PDP thugs, criminals, and vandals.”

“The citizens of Osun should not be deceived and ‘we appeal to security agencies not to put down their guards, because the PDP in its desperation will clutch at any straw to create mayhem and the Thursday’s summit is one of them’, the APC said.

Meantime, the Osun state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, yesterday raised the alarm that it has uncovered plot by Osun state government to retrench no less than 10, 000 of its workers.

The modalities to be adopted to downsize according to PDP was being handled by a stalwart of All Progressive Congress, APC, that allegedly did similar “job” during the tenure of Chief Bisi Akande, when workers were retrenched.

But a stalwart of APC and member of the House of Representatives Mr Ajibola Famurewa dismissed the insinuations that Governor Rauf Aregbesola may be considering sacking workers to reduce the state’s wage bill.

Famurewa said: “we are not thinking towards that direction for now. We know what we are suppose to do in a situation like this and the government is addressing it.

Tecdani