Adeleke blasts Aregbesola, says”2026 will be payback time for years of suffering

Osun state governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke says indigenes and residents of the State have not forgotten the sordid and evil records of Former Governor Rauf Aregbesola when he was at the helms of affairs in the State.

Reacting to the boast by the Rauf Aregbesola who is the interim National Secretary of the Action Democratic Congress, ADC that the Party will dislodge the present administration from the Government House in 2026, Governor Ademola Adeleke castigated the former Governor as “a man who left a legacy of huge state debt, half salary, scam learning tablets (Opon Imon) and several fanciful, inflated, uncompleted projects”, describing his tenure as “the worst in Osun history”.

The Governor in a statement through his Spokesperson, Rasheed Olawale said 2026 is a payback time when Osun people will punish the former Governor and his new party for wilfully inflicting pains and suffering on Osun people throughout his eight years administration.

“The empty boast of Mr Aregbesola about 2026 is a symptom of a troubled mind who sees wrong vision, who is battling his benefactor and who is haunted by the pains and suffering he inflicted on millions of Osun people through his evil policies and programmes. A man who should be remorseful and tender public apologies for his years of maladministration has the audacity to threaten Governor Adeleke who is clearing the mess he left behind after his eight years of anti-people, thoughtless leadership.

“Mr Aregbesola’s wickedness against workers, public servants, and Osun people knows no bounds while he wielded state power. A man who introduced half salary, misapplied contributory state pension fund and misused state cooperative deductions fund should be ashamed of his temerity to attack a Governor who is now paying up the half salary affliction, clearing the unjustified debt and rehabilitating brutalised Osun workers.

“The Adeleke administration has paid 28 months out of the half salary left behind by Mr Aregbesola. The present administration has paid close to 60 billion naira in pension debt, a legacy of this same Aregbesola. Pensioners and workers generally are not praying for a return to the evil days of a bad administrator who left his state in ruin after eight years.”, the statement noted.

The Governor said his administration has reduced Osun debt left by former Governor Rauf Aregbesola by 40 percent as confirmed by the Debt Management Office.

He also listed his achievements to include payment of 28 months half salary left by Rauf Aregbesola, construction of about 200 Kilometres of roads, rehabilitated over 200 schools and health centres, enlistment of over 30, 000 pensioners on free health insurance care, provision of critical medical surgeries to over 60,000 Osun residents as well as completion of several abandoned projects at Osun State University among others.

“If Mr Aregbesola is to accuse Governor Adeleke of non-performance, we await his review of the dualization of palace to brewery junction at Ilesa which he failed to achieve while in office. He should check out the flyover projects at Ile Ife and Osogbo and the dualization projects ongoing at Iwo among others.

“Osun people know their present and past Governors. Our people are smart enough to know that the worst era for Osun state is that of Mr Aregbesola under whom many pensioners lost their lives, thousands of lives were disrupted, and the state plunged into unsustainable debt that is still hurting the state till date. No voter in Osun is ready for a return to the dark days.

“We therefore dismiss Mr Aregbesola’s boast as a blurry vision of another world other than Osun where Governor Adeleke has received accolades and awards for delivering on good governance and where Osun people have appreciated the local content policy, the non-borrowing policy, and the people’s first style of the current governor.

“Mr Aregbesola is a shrew (Asin ti o mo pe ohun unrun) who does not know that he is smelling. 2026 is a payback time when Osun people will punish the former Governor and his new party for wilfully inflicting pains and suffering on Osun people throughout his eight years rule”, the statement concluded.