As tongues are wagging in Osun State over the disappearance of the state Governor Ademola Adeleke from the public radar since 31 days ago, the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has tasked the handlers of the governor to come out clean on the true situation and location of the controversial Ede-born governor.
According to the state APC chairman, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, in a statement issued by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi, in Osogbo on Monday, the Osun State people deserve the inalienable right to know the whereabouts and condition of their governor whose actions and inactions have become matters of interest as a public officer.
It would be recalled that Governor Adeleke absconded from the country a day before the Kogi State governorship election of which he was appointed its chairman by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP, where his party’s candidate, Dino Melaye, lost the election by coming third.
Nothing was heard about the movement or whereabouts of Adeleke after two weeks that he had left the state which gave room to speculations in various quarters that he, along others, were attending the naming ceremony of his nephew’s (Davido) twins in Atlanta, the United States of America while the others were of the belief that the governor has been on a medical pilgrimage abroad.
It would be recalled that an interview was arranged for Governor Adeleke in the commemoration of the first anniversary of his administration. It was the first time in the history of the state that a sitting governor will be conspicuously physically absent at his first year anniversary. Osun was created 32 years ago.
The governor in his disjointed radio interview which was suggestive of a suspicion that he was reading from a prepared text spoke on sundry issues in American slangs which are considered wholy unwelcome and rude to the type of the society he applied for its governance here in Nigeria.
Hear Governor Adeleke during the radio interview: “The White Papers on the suspended traditional rulers are ready. I am in charge. I don’t want anybody to rush me. The new Sheriff is in town.
“Within a week or so, I will make sure that I am fit because health is wealth. I will brief the people of Osun State when I come back about our achievements in one year.
“I have worked so hard immediately I assumed office. You can fact check it. I am a human being. I need a break. That’s why I decide(sic) to go on leave in Thailand. I am here in the interest of the Osun State people”, Adeleke said among other things.
The state APC chairman wondered which of the reasons do we believe for the Adeleke incensant absence from the state when his spokesman had earlier established shopping for investors while Adeleke on the other hand stated that he is on leave and he is not medically fit.
Lawal postulated that the contradicting reasons for the absence of Adeleke from the state for 30 clears days are enough reasons to suspect and conclude that the governor is using falsehood to deceive the people of the state which is an indication that he has something to hide.
In Lawal’s words: “Any mortal can fall sick any time and anywhere. It however, becomes a matter of public interest when someone who is politically-exposed like Governor Adeleke is now found wanting in the performance of his constitutional responsibilities.
“A camelion which walks gently falls sick to talk less of a frog that daily hits its whole body against the ground. There is no human being who could be engaging in the dancing style of Governor Adeleke at 60 plus that would not have one or two health challenges to contend with.
“It is important for the Adeleke handlers to keep watch over him to ensure that he desists from the cumulative effects of the factors responsible for his current questionable health status.
“The long and short of our sermon is that Osun State is not an individual enterprise that can be run outside the provisions of the constitution. The governor needs to sit up to his constitutional responsibilities of providing qualitative governance for the people of Osun State as anything short of this is balderdash”, Lawal added.
