Opinion: Why is Governor Adeleke denying Osun people of palliatives? By Adebayo Adedeji
If there is anything someone should deny his or her needy neighbour, it should not be food. Unfortunately, that is what Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun is using to punish the socially and financially vulnerable Osun citizens who look up to him for succour following the fuel subsidy removal.
Senator Adeleke came to power on a populist mantra but he has since proven he is a direct, wicked opposite of the welfarist disposition he projected to the people before he poached their mandate.
While all the responsible state governors are daily churning out measures to reduce the effects of fuel subsidy removal, Adeleke looks on unconcerned, even when his government has received layers of palliatives from the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Before August 17 when the opposition All Progresives Congress exposed the plot of the Adeleke administration to divert the Federal Government rice palliatives meant for Osun citizenry, not many could believe that a governor who has always pretended to be a lover of the people could be so heartless that he would stand his people go hungry let alone hide social benefits and reliefs from them.
Having been exposed by the APC, the Adeleke government had no better choice than to announce receipt of what it had got from the government and assure citizens of immediate distribution. But strangely since August 17 when the state government confirmed that truly it received palliatives from the Federal Government, nothing has been done yet. It is still the same old, ludicrous, cook-and-bull story from the usual suspects.
In Kwara State, for example, besides the food palliatives extended to the citizens, workers and students have also been receiving monthly cash support of N10, 000 and free transport services respectively. Similar welfare packages are being implemented in other states. In Ondo, 18,000 vulnerable persons have begun to receive unconditional cash transfer in addition to the food distribution and free transport services to the pensioners and the aged.
Meanwhile, here in Osun, despite receiving an approval of N5b relief fund and 3,000 bags of rice from the Federal Government, the state government has elected to see the people groan under economic hardship as nothing has been done to ameliorate the people’s plights.
Elsewhere, in Katsina, the state government has used N2billion of the fund received from the FG to purchase 40,000 bags of rice for the benefits of the people. But what do people get in Osun when they tell the King Nebuchadnezzar in Abere to attend to their welfare, they are directed to state hospitals to receive paracetamol as that is the only support the state government is offering the struggling citizens!
But as usual, the opposition APC has finalised plans to pressure the state government to be responsible and kind to the people whose well-being is supposed to be its priority. However, this time around, it is a street protest to press home the demands of the suffering peasants, helpless artisans and overwhelmed business men and women. The opposition party in the state wants Adeleke to account for all material and financial reliefs he has received from Abuja this far. It is well known that unless Adeleke is pressured, heckled, kicked and forced to discharge his responsibility, it is a no-show for the people. Like a mannequin, the kick-and-start Governor must be moved before he moves; hence the reason for the planned street protest.
