Osun APC and the struggle with guilt – By Yusuf Oluwadamilare

A celebrated media expert, Andrew-Knox B. Kaniki made a stunning discovery about the weight of guilt. The Zambian national observed that “it’s always the guilty that have itchy bowels after chewing the truth.”

And he was damn right, especially when you observe the infantile postulation of the Osun state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to request of the Osun State Government for public assets in the possession of its members who served in the previous administration. Apparently caught up with the reality of its members brazen abuse of office, the APC is pushing around a list of people around the Adeleke administration in the desperation to cover up the cornering of common patrimony of the people.

In essence, the Osun APC is no longer denying the fact that its members unlawfully possessed public assets, its argument now is rather that those in the Adeleke administration did the same thing. In the rush for this dangerous narrative, the APC made a big blunder and that was to rely more on lies and beer parlour gossip, rather than facts. And it is so unfortunate.

I’ve reviewed the list of names supplied by the APC and all I could do was laugh. In the attempt to justify the brazen dispossession of public properties, the Osun APC is pushing a lame and ridiculous notion of some other people too did it and ended up with all sorts of cheap fallacious claims, which not only insult the intelligence of Osun people, but also a sad reflection of the reckless disposition of the APC to question of accountability.

Take, for instance, the malicious claim against Ede-born billionaire, Dr. Deji Adeleke. It is a shame that the APC took this route of using pure lies as a justification for the theft of public properties because available records showed that Dr. Adeleke did not enjoy any of the favour attributed to him from former Governor Rauf Aregbesola. Aside from the fact that Adeleke University is a model in philanthropy as more than half of students in the school are on full scholarship, he pays everything that is due to the State Government.

It is unimaginable that the APC will subject such a man who has made so many contributions to both human capital development and the economy of the state to campaign of falsehood. But I cannot blame them, because the only thing they know to do is steal and not build. The Osun APC is parasitic in nature and more than ever, Osun people have a better understanding of this disturbing reality.

But that is not all. The claim by the APC that some officials in the Adeleke administration, particularly the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Teslim Igbalaye, and the Chief of Staff, Alhaji Kazeem Akinleye, went away with official vehicles is not founded on fact. The SSG had debunked this claim before now, pointing out “that the official vehicles for which the then council bosses pay part payment were taken from them immediately the court ruled against former Governor Oyinlola.”

Instead of the APC controverting this assertion with irrefutable evidence, it chooses to peddle lies in order to distract attention from his abuse of public assets just because of having access to office. On a number of media platforms, the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, has made clarification on the vehicle in his possession, dismissing the lies of the APC.

The APC must come out of its illusion that cooking up lies to attack people in the Adeleke administration will discourage it from retrieving public assets stolen by officials of the previous administration. The retrieval process is going ahead and the APC can save itself from the attendant mess by willfully returning the public assets in its possession.

We can all see what President Bola Tinubu is doing to sanitize the country, and will definitely back the Governor Ademola Adeleke effort to do the same in Osun. No matter the wolf cry of the APC in Osun, President Tinubu will stand on the side of Osun people in restoring what belongs to them, which is what Governor Adeleke administration is pursuing.

• Yusuf Oluwadamilare writes from Ede, Osun state.