Why I Have Not Picked My Aides —Gov. Rauf

Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has explained why he governed the state without cabinet members in the last seven months.

One of the reasons is that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP-led House of Assembly in Osun before the last election was bent on frustrating his move to present the list of his cabinet members to the House.

Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy to the Governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon who spoke on behalf of the governor told P.M.NEWS this morning that when Aregbesola first presented the list of caretaker committees for local government to the House for approval, he was nearly frustrated as it took the House a very long time to approve the list.

He said coupled with this, it was the same House that the PDP leadership in the state tried to use to impeach the governor when he assumed office, saying that it was morally right not to present the list of cabinet members to such a House as it would be met with frustration.

Okanlawon stated that the governor decided to concentrate on his election promises, which was to deliver the dividends of Democracy to the people of Osun who have been traumatized by the previous government.

“The problem created by the PDP when we sent the list of caretaker committees to the House was one of the reasons why we did not send the cabinet list. The PDP gave us problem. Don’t also forget that this was a House of Assembly that was to be used to impeach the governor.

“Then, the first instinct was to deal with them at a minimal level. It is good to wait,” he said.

He stated that the hue and cry about the governor not having commissioners for seven months were being generated by the PDP.

Okanlawon stated that people were just being sentimental about the whole issue, not minding the position of the constitution about the matter.

He added that the current House of Assembly was just inaugurated on 4 June and that the list of cabinet members would soon be submitted to it for approval.

Okanlawon took a swipe at the PDP, saying that for seven years, it had bastardized the state and that the present government had embarked on rebuilding the state after the decay.

“If a party ruled in the last seven years and the people can’t testify about its performance, that party has lost its moral right to talk.

“The PDP plunged Osun State into the quagmire. This is a party whose government brought the people to the lowest ebb,” he lashed out.

According to him, Aregbesola had outlined several programmes aimed at transforming the state, especially in the area of agricultural revolution. Another aide to the governor, who craved anonymity, told P.M. NEWS that the list of cabinet members would hopefully be submitted to the Assembly for approval this week.

Our source said since the House was now controlled by the Action Congress of Nigeria, the list of cabinet members was expected to sail through without much problem.