PALLIATIVE: OSUN APC CAN ONLY FOOL ITSELF BY SARAFA IBRAHIM

PALLIATIVE: OSUN APC CAN ONLY FOOL ITSELF BY SARAFA IBRAHIM

If there is anything comical and at the same time unsettling, it is the newfound concern for the public welfare that the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) seemed to be striving so hard to sell to the public lately. For twelve years, the APC administered the affairs of Osun state, and all we could tell about it was gross mismanagement of public resources, and poor welfare attitude, among other disturbing statistics that made Osun people say no to it at the July 16, 2022 governorship election and the subsequent general elections.

This is why it is odd reading a piece by one Adebayo Adedeji that ridiculously tried to create the impression that Governor Ademola Ademola is deliberately delaying the distribution of palliative to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal. In that article titled "Why Is Governor Adeleke Denying Osun People Of Palliatives?", Adedeji mischievously pictured Governor Adeleke as unbothered by the plights faced by Osun people while positioning the APC as having concern for the welfare of the people. 

Osun APC cares for the Osun people? Well, he can only deceive the undiscerning, because the records are too glaring to be distorted. For the 12 years that the APC managed the affairs of Osun state, the welfare of the people suffered gravely, to the point that civil servants and pensioners were left to the mercy of donors for sustenance. It is on record that the APC left a staggering N76 billion in salary and pension liabilities for the Adeleke administration, some of which the current administration has already started paying.

While there is nothing wrong with showing concern for the troubling situation that many people are going through as a result of fuel subsidy removal, it must however be done with decency and good intention, not the corrosive mindset that Adedeji exhibited in his article. There is no truth whatsoever in the narrative promoted by Adedeji in his article as Governor Adeleke has consistently shown commitment to the welfare of the people.

Only last week, the Deputy Governor, Prince Kola Adewusi, inaugurated the Osun Committee on Palliatives and handed over the distribution of the special support to them. The membership of the committee was drawn from every strata of the Osun society in an effort to ensure that the palliatives got to those who actually needed it and were free from manipulation and distortion.

This was what the previous administration, which Adedeji was part of, failed to do, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a situation where palliatives meant for the people were converted to political tools to drive votes. Only members of the APC or those who are identified as potential voters of the party got one form of palliative or the other, something that was seriously against the intention of those who gave those items to the state government.

Perhaps, this experience was what motivated the article of Adedeji, thinking that the Adeleke administration would go the same way as the previous administration. Well, he is grossly mistaken, as Governor Adeleke is poised to ensure that the distribution of palliatives has no political colouration and that only those who actually needed it got it.

That was the idea behind handing the palliatives to the Osun stakeholders, who are believed to represent every segment of the Osun society and can be fair and transparent in the distribution of the relief package. In fact, it was the committee that agreed to the delay of the palliative for the awaiting batch to arrive so that it could reach more people.

In what clearly was a blackmail effort by Adedeji, he erroneously suggested that the 3,000 bags of rice already received by the State Government was enough to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal on Osun people. A simple arithmetic calculation will give him away as nothing but a mischief-maker, because if the 3,000 bags should be divided by the 332 wards in Osun, what will go to each ward is about 9 bags of rice. 

We all saw videos of the palliative distribution in Kwara and Lagos states, and the reasonable question is, how does that solve the problem of the people? This is not to say the Osun State Government will not be doing anything to support the people in this troubling time, but it is to expose the fake concern of people like Adedeji who are trying to draw political capital from the pains of the ordinary people.

Look at the subtle but well-obvious attempt to instigate the people against the Osun State Government by mischievously referencing support for workers and pensioners in states like Kwara and others. What Adedeji failed to point out is that Kwara or any other states he choose to reference, does not use about 40 percent of its net allocation to service debt incurred by the APC. When Governor Adeleke took over, he inherited over N400 billion in debt from the APC government. This is aside from N76 billion in pension liabilities and about N50 billion in contractual debts. 

I'm not sure any state that Adedeji referenced in his article inherited this depressing financial standing caused by the recklessness of his party while at the helm of affairs. Add to his mischief is the misleading narrative that the medical outreach launched by Governor Adeleke as part of support for people is just about paracetamol. Far from it. As we all know that health is wealth, and any society that wants to progress will invest decisively in the healthy living of citizens. 

Under the 'Imole Surgical and Medical Outreach', Governor Adeleke will avail at least 3,000 persons in each of the nine (9) federal constituencies in Osun the rare opportunity of having their varying health challenges solved. A total of 30,000 beneficiaries across Osun state will receive medicare, ranging from free surgeries for Cataracts, Pterygium, Hernia, and some swellings on the body. Persons with medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, malaria, cough, and tuberculosis, among other diseases, were also catered for. This is the second time such medical intervention will be offered by Governor Adeleke in his avowed commitment to solving the medical needs of the people.

It is surprising that Adedeji ignored this lifesaving effort, and choose to peddle misinformation. While the precarious situation of losing power is well understood, politics should be played with responsibility, not the recklessness and disruptive tendency that Adedeji and his party have apparently adopted.

If Adedeji and his party, the APC truly care about Osun state, it should be focused on complementing any intervention from the government to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal on the people. As opposition, the PDP with the active support of the Adelekes rallied resources during the COVID-19 pandemic and distributed palliatives within its means. Pouring on streets solves nothing, especially when the palliative is no longer in the custody of the State Government, but Osun stakeholders, who form the palliative committee. Except that the rumour that Osun APC intends to cause unrest in the state by hiding under protest is actually true, nothing can explain the clueless opposition party took to the street on palliatives.

• Sarafa Ibrahim is a Special Assistant to the Osun State Governor and writes from Iwo, Osun State.