OPINION: Aregbesola’s Many Deserved Merit Awards

KINDLY permit me to air my opinion on the burning issue above-stated in your medium, which we trust and respect so much as ours; and which we pride as the instrument for wresting our society out of the vicious grip of self-seeking, callous self-styled leaders.
I strongly believe that we should also be committed to bringing to the fore, the good qualities of our own leaders and get them well appreciated during their lifetime, rather than celebrating them posthumously.
We have seen governments and administrations in the State of Osun. Lots of them have come and gone within the space of almost twenty-three years that it had been created. We have seen military administrators; governors and helmsmen of sorts – called by whatever names – govern the state one after the other.
We have seen deceivers in their grand designs jostling and gallivanting around for awards and decorations while their uneventful days in office lasted. At the end of it all, the state stood at a level that was below zero as at the Year 2010 – nineteen good years into its creation!
Then, came on board the great emancipator, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola! He would have come without pomp and pageantry usually associated with such emergence in most places, but the long legal tussle, which snowballed into his ascendancy, compelled wild jubilations, that at last, the state had shaken itself out of the grip of its captors, who held her hostage for many years.
Unlike many Nigerians, who had once found themselves in similar situations, Aregbesola was not overtaken with euphoria of victory. He instantly swung into action; rolling out his programmes, policies and projects meticulously one after the other as promised. From the inception of his administration till date, there had not been a dull moment. The governor himself is full of life, action, motion and activity.
At the beginning, he set aside all attempts by groups and corporate organizations to bestow awards on him. His reason was that he had to wait till achievements began to trail his strides. Those achievements were not slow in coming. Barely 100 days into his administration, Aregbesola had succeeded where many in his position had failed woefully in donkey years! He empowered 20,000 unemployed graduate youths as first batch of the State of Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (O’YES).
Today, the second batch of the scheme is almost approaching its mid-term period. Not only this, strings of achievements trailed Aregbesola in all sectors of life; Education, Health, Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, Transport, Human Resource and Infrastructure. Today, the State of Osun has been so radically transformed that someone, who had left its shores since times preceding the governor’s coming on board would now need a guide to tour the state, as virtually everything has changed for better.
There is therefore little or no need to rationalize the recent streams of awards coming to this great achiever. He did not jostle or crave for them; he simply earned them. If a national newspapers in the line of credibility of Daily Independent could confer an award on a governor; if the dreaded Independent Corrupt, Economic Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC) could award a serving governor; if the British House of Lords could be panting after a man’s well of knowledge; if, to cut the long story short, the overwhelming majority of the people who are subjects in a state could be raining prayers on a governor for his quality service to the people; then what explanations do we wait for?
What am I saying? By his strings of achievements, Aregbesola deserves to be awarded and honoured ten thousand times over. I give kudos to this quintessential Man of the People, recently decked with “Man of the Year 2013” Award. I however charge him and pray for him not to relent in his service dispensation to the people. I also advise the people to give him the best of their support and cooperation and translate this into vote, more so that another round of Governorship Elections is approaching in the State of Osun. This is the only way we can keep the good work going.
Osun a dara o.
DEJO DARAMOLA, Tinumola Estate, Osogbo, State of Osun
OSUN DEFENDEER