Setting The Record Straight: No Fresh Employments At OSBC By Adeleke’s Govt, it’s mere Reversal Of Executive Order Sacking 66 Freelance Staff Employed By Oyetola

…Gov. Adeleke Is Fond Of Claiming Oyetola’s Glory

By Waheed Adekunle

I received with dismay yesterday the news of the purported approval of permanent employments of some freelance staff of the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation (OSBC) by Governor Ademola Adeleke which littered the media space, claiming that the governor has approved permanent employments for the freelance staff of the Corporation. The claim is not only fallacious, satirical but ridiculous that a government would boldly claim the glory that doesn’t belong to it.

For record purposes, the uninterrupted twelve years of the progressive government witnessed a tremendous landmark in the history of the state particularly on the state government-owned media outfit (OSBC) as many interventions were made to reposition the station to compete favourably with its counterparts in the digital world in line with the best practices in the broadcasting industry across the globe.

It is on record that the administration of the erstwhile Governor Adegboyega Oyetola did not only prioritize the station in the scheme of things while he was serving as the governor but he also ensured that all the 66 freelance staff who were presented to him were recruited into the State Civil Service and issued with employment letters before he exited office in 2022.

It is documented that former Governor Oyetola in his magnanimity after he painstakingly considered the request of the management of the broadcast station graciously and expressly approved permanent jobs for the said 66 freelance workers who were hitherto placed on monthly stipends by the Corporation for several years.

Records also showed that all the claims made by the management as to the requisite needs for the employment at that material time were made and fulfilled not until the incumbent government through its anti-workers’ Executive Order nullified the appointment and invalidated the legal actions taken by the former governor for no just cause.

Recall that Governor Adeleke upon assumption of office issued different Executive Orders to nullify many of the official steps and actions constitutionally taken by his predecessor for personal and political reasons, a heinous decision that led to the sack of many traditional rulers, thousands of the Volunteers/Cadets of Osun Youth Employment Schemes (OYES); vendors of Osun School Feeding and Health Programme popularly called (OMEAL); School Teachers; Health Workers among others.

However, the instrumentality of the obnoxious Executive Order which was a product of vendetta and political vindictiveness was equally applied on the OSBC freelance staff by the governor when he assumed office as he deliberately ordered for the immediate withdrawal of their employment letters in compliance with the fresh anti-people decision. By implication, the pronouncement made by the government on the fresh employments was nothing but a charade and a purely political jamboree calculated to score a cheap and unmerited political point.

One would wonder how a government remains hellbent in taking glory of good works that do not belong to it? It is crystal clear that the discerning citizens who could separate the grains from the chaff know the truth, nothing but the truth between the genuine leaders and political interlopers and impostors.

It is on record that the same PDP-led government in Osun went on air to claim the glory of Osogbo-Ikirun road that had reached 80 per cent completion before coming to power. One would still wonder how possible in Nigeria of today for such a dual carriage way will be completed within some days and with less than 500 million if not for scam and fraudulent tendencies.

While it is necessary for the citizens to be more vigilant and wary of the deceptive nature of the current government, I want to say with every sense of modesty that no fresh employment was made whatsoever in OSBC as the narrative pushed out by the government media handlers was not only misleading and egocentric, it is indeed a fiction from the pit of the hell which was fabricated to hoodwink the unsuspecting members of the public particularly the bureaucrats.

We were in the state when the state government under the leadership of Governor Adeleke in an effort to tarnish the image of the erstwhile governor claimed that the Government House was looted which later proved to be a mere fabrication. We were in Osun when the state government erroneously claimed that government vehicles were carted away which till today still remained sophistic. We were in Osun when the incumbent government said no meaningful effort was made in the mineral resources particularly in the mining sector by the previous administration which later proved untrue but quite unfortunate, till today nothing meaningful has been made by the current government to fulfill its promises in that regard. We were in Osun when the state government claimed it established the Ilesa University which had been far approved and established by the former Governor Oyetola. We were in the state when the current government claimed that it only met humongous debt but failed to acknowledge the huge amount of money to the tune of N14bn left in the state’s coffers by its predecessor. These and many were credible claims to describe the kind of government that governs our dear state today.

As a discerning mind, opinions are free, truths are sacred. We can’t dissipate meaningful effort on this claim because it has no substance to be debated upon. But for the benefit of the general public on this fresh phoney employments of Governor Adeleke, the truth is that a list comprised of 66 names of freelance staff were presented by the OSBC management to the former Governor Oyetola for approval and same were granted which later snowballed into the permanent employments of those people then. No more, no less. So, the yesterday drama was just a reversal of the obnoxious Executive Order that was used to withdraw the appointment letters from the beneficiaries.

May God heal our land!