Budget Of Hope: Stop Being Irrational In Criticism, Osun Govt Tells PDP

The Osun State government, on Sunday flayed the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over its comment on the 2019 appropriation presented on Thursday by Governor Gboyega Oyetola, entitled ‘Budget of Hope’.

It would be recalled that the Chairman of PDP, Hon. Soji Adagunodo, had in a statement on Friday, described the appellation of the budget as a conscious admittance of ‘hopeless administration of the Aregbesola led administration in the state,’ saying Oyetola should be highly commended for saying the truth.

In a swift reaction, therefore, Mr Adelani Baderinwa, who held sway as Commissioner for Information in the last administration, and now the newly appointed Supervisor in the Ministry through a statement he made available to newsmen in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, said members of the opposition PDP were suffering from serious intellectual laziness.
The statement reads in part, “The attention of the government of Osun has been drawn to an irresponsible press statement credited to the embattled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the 2019 Appropriation Bill christened ‘Budget of Hope’ which was presented by Governor Gboyega Oyetola to the House of Assembly last Thursday.”

“While we acknowledge the role of opposition to include critiquing policies, programmes and projects of government for the overall benefit of the general society, we take exception to criticism which tends to be fallacious in nature and without benefit of any kind to our people.”

“The press state by the PDP on the 2019 budget is a criticism that clearly gives them away as lacking abundantly, in intellectual input, basic understanding of governance and great deficiencies in understanding of what governance is all about.

“It amounts to sheer intellectual laziness and lack of competence on the part of the PDP to criticize a budget based on its christening and failed woefully to critically address the content of the budget as a whole. No critical minded opposition will embark on wild goose chase as PDP has done on the budget.”

“It is this regular demonstration of sheer self denial of the substantial success of former Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration that will eventually put PDP to permanent displacement in the anals of Osun political history as their obvious lack of depth and capacity to admit some good deeds when seen as strength in the opposition business in a democracy.”

“Or, how will anybody continue to argue with scientific facts as provided by credible world organisations upon which the Aregbesola administration had been consistently rated against the remaining 35 states in Nigeria? It will take only a PDP with serious short-sightedness, lack of clear thinking, knowledge and capacity to decipher the good from the bad to continue to refuse to acknowledge the prodigious achievements of Aregbesola.”

“This embarrassing and primitive attitude of PDP is unbecoming of a civilized opposition party in a democracy and it rather shows the level of their desperation in discrediting the legitimately constituted government of Oyetola by all crooked means possible.”

“May we state with pride that it is an indisputable fact that under the Aregbesola’s administration, Osun, in spite of the PDP federal government induced economic quagmire leading to lean economic resources for the state, was rated the state with the best in terms of tax payment, least poverty stricken state in the country, the state with least misery index in the country, and the state with least number of unemployment in the country. “

“In terms of good governance, Osun ranked among the best in Nigeria, and was declared the lowest state in ‘Incidence of Poverty’ in Nigeria by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in October this year. In the overall, Osun earned the title of the most peaceful state among its peers in 2018.”

“It is absurd that PDP failed to congratulate Osun as an entity for these accolades even if their politics of bitterness will not allow them to see the many achievements made possible by the Aregbesola led APC government. May we note with utmost pride that we were not that moribund to truth when we were in their shoes as opposition to their lackluster government before us.”

“May we state that we have absolute trust in the correct sense of judgment of the real and dispassionate people of Osun that they have clear understanding of what Governor Oyetola meant when he christened the budget that of hope and will get separated from the warped and incorrigible thinking of power mongers in PDP.”

“When a government gives priority to infrastructure, education, agriculture, health and provision of water resources, the direction to which it is intended is clear, especially when it inherited a huge legacy foundation from a worthy predecessor; it cannot be anything other than offer greater hope to the people further. It is that ‘the hope’ of good governance they enjoyed in the Aregbesola’s era would continue in greater measure in Governor Oyetola’s administration.”

“The Budget of Hope as presented by Governor Oyetola is in clear understanding of people without mischief that it is life more abundant for the sons and daughters of Osun, it’s residents and a tactical invitation to others to be part of our movement towards prosperity, which started eight years ago and gradually manifesting and which will gain greater fillip with a sound and clear mind like Governor Oyetola behind the wheel of our progress and not one clueless person without any serious education.”

“Governor Oyetola is not in any doubt that it is not yet Uhuru in terms of having basic needs for the people of Osun in spite of the tremendous improvement achieved in the last eight years. He is also convinced that Osun has not gotten to the level wished by the founding fathers, hence his determination to offer renewed hope to the people who have begun to enjoy some measures of good governance. With serious determination, Oyetola is bent on not taking a backward journey of the days of deluge of problems such as economic stagnation, financial insufficiency, relapse of commerce and business for which the state is known in the past, dearth of infrastructure, dilapidated school buildings, bad roads, etc.”

“The Governor will, at all time tell you that we have left Egypt but yet to get to the promised land, and he will unhesitatingly add that as a progressive government, we are always poised to do more – continue to make life more abundant for the people and deliver dividends of democracy across the board. We are always not satisfied with our achievements, no matter how great they are. That is why we are always hopeful of a better society.”

“Governor Oyetola’s administration will surely, through the budget, consolidate on the human capital development achievement to make life more meaningful and abundant for the people of the state which has been in implementations when he was the Chief of Staff.”

“The 2019 ‘Budget of Hope’ is structured to service the people directly and indirectly with massive infrastructure development, especially in education and health sectors. Direct and indirect jobs will be created in the coming year with a view to continue ensuring that many more youths are taken off the street more aggressively much than it has been happening.”

“There cannot be clearer instance of greater hope offering than the declaration of an end to modulated salary regime which came into been as a result of the profligacy of PDP federal government. The people of Osun are knowledgeable enough to know who serves their interest better, hence its continuous rejection of PDP with its propensity for high corruption based on rent economy. It is pertinent to call PDP’s attention to the need for them to engage in more rational thinking and put a stop to the foolish thought that the best way to run a government is the payment of salaries alone and neglects the other sectors of the society which are equally important in the development of the entire state as a whole.”

“The PDP failed woefully in its assumption that Osun have N5bn debt to pay on monthly, as such do not have basis anywhere. It is part of their blackmail strategy aimed at killing the people’s hope, plant fear and hatred in their mind to negate the clear hope that Oyetola comes with. Nothing if farther from the truth as two of the three main debts the state owed directly under the immediate past government will come to an end in payment in 2019 and 2020. PDP is always frivolous with their contentions. Osun people are logical and wise than their shenanigans.