– Ex-Osun Works Commissioner Omowaye
Engr Remi Omowaye, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, is a two-term commissioner. He served because the Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Know-how underneath Governor Rauf Aregebesola, and in addition the Commissioner for Works, when Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, the present Minister of Marine and Blue Financial system, was the governor of Osun State. He’s presently the Government Director, Mission Implementation, Federal Housing Authority (FHA). On this interview with GBENGA ADERANTI, he talks about how the APC is making ready for the governorship election in 2026 and the presidential election in 2027, Adeleke’s authorities, Aregbesola, and different points. Excerpts
How ready is your celebration for the forthcoming elections, particularly the governorship election within the state?
Within the official agenda, INEC mentioned, the marketing campaign will begin on March 11. I can let you know that we have now put in place a workforce, and we’re prepared for the elections. Two different issues will assist us in these elections: the abysmal efficiency of Governor Adeleke; he has misplaced a variety of his sturdy political associates to us, you understand, politics is native. A number of his foot troopers are with us.
Out of the three Senators, two of the Senators are with us; we have now three Home of Reps members with us. Considered one of them is Oluwole Oke, who has gained election for a report 5 instances. We’re ready.
The chief of the celebration is doing rather a lot. We are going to go to the battlefield and win. The Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Financial system, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, is doing rather a lot . I can say that we’re absolutely ready, and I do know victory shall be ours.
After the gubernatorial major of your celebration, among the contestants had been aggrieved. What are you doing to reconcile them to the celebration?
Properly, I don’t assume any of them are aggrieved. Don’t neglect that 90 per cent of them went to the president. Out of 9 of them, eight of the aspirants went to Mr President, and so they gave their dedication to work for the emergence of our candidate. Majority of them are absolutely with the celebration. They’ve collapsed their construction into the celebration construction. Sure, we would have one in every of them that has not absolutely come to our candidate; I do know the management of the celebration is doing rather a lot to deliver him on board, and to additionally reconcile anyone that’s aggrieved.
You recognize, it’s a contest; you must count on that some folks shall be aggrieved, however the management of the celebration, led by Adegboyega Oyetola, and our revered father, Chief Adebisi Akande , are doing rather a lot to ensure we be sure that we have now a powerful, formidable workforce.
By way of membership registration, your celebration is rated thirty third out of the 36 states in Nigeria. Are you not involved with this growth?
That’s not a giant concern; the most important problem is the requirement for registration, the Nationwide Identification Quantity (NIN). Don’t neglect that our celebration is a progressive celebration. In case you come to a spot like Osun now, we have now a variety of outdated folks which can be our celebration members, a few of them don’t even have NIN, and we’re within the means of attempting to do it, to get them NIN. Don’t neglect that the web penetration in Nigeria will not be as excessive as folks assume, which has affected rather a lot, however you understand we’re the celebration to beat in Nigeria, the celebration is a powerful celebration, with a giant followership, rather a lot is being finished to handle the problem of individuals having issues with registration. That shall be sorted out.
Some folks have argued in sure quarters that the Accord Get together of Adeleke is extra strategic when it comes to celebration registration. Some even expressed worries that your celebration is lackadaisical on this space.
That’s not true. I come from Ilesha West. There’s a provision in my ward for registration, and we have now even decentralised it, even to the unit stage. I’ve informed you what the issue is. Lots of people are having issues with their NIN. That’s being resolved, as a matter of reality, a few of them are going to the NIN workplace to appropriate their NIN, and it’s taking time.
I can let you know that these challenges are being dealt with, and we’re seeing a variety of enchancment.
You labored intently with the previous Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbe, a person who’s thought to be widespread and charismatic. He’s now a stalwart of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). Is that this not going to have an effect on the probabilities of your celebration within the state?
There isn’t any huge deal; I name him oga as a result of he was my boss. He has been gone for greater than 5 years now. For the 2022 election, he didn’t help us. We gained in his polling unit. We gained in his ward. We gained within the native authorities. For the 2023 election, he additionally didn’t help Asiwaju. Asiwaju gained his polling unit. Asiwaju gained in his ward. Asiwaju gained in his native authorities. That’s to let you know that even when he was the minister, when he didn’t help us, he couldn’t defeat us in his native authorities, not to mention now that he’s not in energy. He’s not related. I watched a video of him going to the ADC assembly in Lagos. I felt so dangerous for him as a result of I really feel that isn’t the place he belongs. How many individuals had been there? This was a person who used to command an enormous followership in Lagos and Osun, however that has drastically decreased due to the political path he took. So, we’re simply hoping and wishing that Oga will retrace his steps and are available again residence.
Your celebration misplaced the final governorship election in Osun, at a time when many felt it was going to be a straightforward trip for you. What may have been chargeable for your defeat then? What are you doing to stop your celebration from dropping the subsequent election?
I’m not going to say rather a lot about that as a result of it’s gone. We’ve x-rayed a variety of issues. The outcome introduced was that we misplaced, however we didn’t lose that election. I provides you with a typical instance: the governor comes from Ede, and so they had been allowed to vote until 11pm. If you’re allowed to vote until 11 pm, which means one thing was fallacious. A number of issues occurred in that election. If you’ll recollect, we gained on the decrease court docket as a result of the BIVAS report confirmed that there was a variety of over-voting. For us, we have now gone by way of x-raying our construction, and we have now checked out areas we have to enhance.
Folks of Osun can see what Adeleke can do; he has clearly failed them. A number of the political construction he rode on in 2022 is not there for him this time round.
The audit of the workforce in Osun State was contracted to an audit agency; this has been producing a variety of debate of late. Adeleke insists that the interval underneath evaluate was underneath Oyetola, whereas the marketing consultant disagreed with the federal government. What’s your tackle this?
That is easy; they gave the marketing consultant a letter of engagement, and within the letter of engagement, they acknowledged that the interval of evaluate ought to be from 2023 to 2024. Oyetola left in 2022, so there was a proper communication.
We should always settle for the truth that the Adeleke authorities is a authorities of deceit.
You had been the one who introduced this marketing consultant; you gave this marketing consultant a time period of reference. You gave this marketing consultant a letter of engagement, and also you paid this marketing consultant, and the marketing consultant got here with the outcome, and you might be saying you don’t need the outcome.
In your letter of engagement, you mentioned the particular person ought to work between 2023 and 2024. We had left the federal government, and when the particular person noticed {that a} explicit account was receiving over 30,000 salaries, wrote to you and you might be saying you don’t need him, that solely reiterates the truth that Adeleke’s authorities is a authorities of rip-off. If we had been those who employed the marketing consultant, folks would have mentioned we had been those who prompted the marketing consultant. Adeleke was the one which employed the marketing consultant and the marketing consultant pointed that there have been about 12,000 ghost staff, from what they noticed between 2023-2024, and that is 2026, you could possibly not do something, and also you at the moment are placing the blame on people who left authorities in 2022, so you’ll be able to see clearly that Adeleke’s authorities is a authorities of rip-off.
I doubt if the folks from Adeleke’s camp will agree with this assertion… the governor, if you’re going to accuse him of each different factor, no less than he’s developing roads.
There’s a explicit highway in Egbedore; they completed the highway at the moment, and it rained the next day, and the rain washed it away. Inform me, will you be glad in case you are a resident of such a spot?
A couple of of the highway contractors in Osun which can be doing the roads one was registered as fertiliser suppliers. One is registered as a cyber café, and so they had been awarded a multi-billion-naira venture. These folks would not have the experience. Is that not a rip-off? In case you award a highway building to an organization that’s registered as a fertiliser provider, a highway building to an organization that’s registered as a cyber cafe.
There’s a venture, a flyover at Olaiya, ask them to provide the identify of the contractor, they can not provide you with. We did a flyover venture in 2021; we awarded it to a Peculiar Final Seek the advice of. This can be a firm that has finished flyovers in about six Niger Delta states within the South South area. The corporate that served as a marketing consultant on our flyover that we constructed is a number one engineering consultancy firm in Nigeria.
Ask them to call their very own; it’s not troublesome now. They did a flyover venture operating into billions of naira with out finishing up correct exams.
Once we did the Olaiya flyover. We went to the very best materials testing lab in Nigeria. We did it on the College of Lagos lab. We did it on the Federal College of Know-how, Akure, lab. We did it on the UniOsun lab. We went to Lagos Testing Materials Lab, simply because the governor at the moment saved insisting that he wished outcomes from totally different labs to make certain we had been doing what was proper. However they haven’t finished that.
Ask them to deliver out the outcomes of any of those exams they’ve finished. Not solely are we going to deliver out all the outcomes, however we’re additionally going to deliver out the pictorial proof of all we have now finished, and we are able to point out the identify of the corporate, we can provide you statistics.
Have a look at our major well being care venture. Once we did our major well being care venture, as on the time Oyetola got here in as governor, in 2018 December, we had the best maternal dying price in Southern Nigeria. That information sourced from the Federal Ministry of Well being, by 2022, we had been leaving, we had among the best indices in Southern Nigeria.
What did we do? We revitalised 332 major well being care centres in Osun. Osun has 332 major care centres. We’ve 332 political wards. We ensured that we put into correct use one per ward; that singular act decreased the maternal dying price drastically by 70 per cent. These information are there.
In 2021, there was a report that the variety of folks giving delivery in our major well being care centres moved from 20,000 to 50,000. There are outcomes; we aren’t simply coming and grandstanding.
You recognize what Adeleke’s authorities did once they got here? They only went to repaint these amenities and mentioned they’d additionally finished so. I used to be the one in command of the first well being care centres. I used to be the one who personally designed every of the first well being care centres.
We did a design, and we noticed the outcome. However you got here, and also you went to color and take away our plaque and put their plaque. It’s one thing that’s easy. In case you carry out, folks will know; should you fail, folks will know.
Once we had been there, there was this fund, we accessed, the Primary Well being Provision Fund, in every of our major care centres. Once you received there, you’d get fundamental medication, however should you go there at the moment, you gained’t get medication.
The unhappy factor that Adeleke did was after we had been leaving, we seen that we had a variety of hole in personnel, we had put in place a variety of well being amenities, you’ll be able to ask from wherever within the nation, it’s all the time troublesome to supply well being personnel for presidency well being amenities, so we struggled to supply 500 docs, nurses, pharmacists, midwives, lab technologists, and all that. Governor Adeleke got here and sacked all of them.
He mentioned they had been employed by Oyetola; three years later, he has not changed them. Not solely did he go away the well being amenities dilapidated, however he additionally didn’t change the personnel who labored there.
When Oyetola was the governor, issues had been so dangerous that we had been getting minus allocation; now, you might be getting 3 times, 4 instances of the allocation we had been getting, but there’s nothing important to point out for it, besides substandard roads constructed by non-qualified professionals.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is fixing the Ibadan- Ife Ilesha expressway with concrete paving. What which means is that it’s going to final 60-70 years, although the venture is pricey, one factor we all know is that, within the subsequent 50 years, no one will come and say I wish to go down this highway once more, however you might be spending enormous assets to do initiatives that can’t final.
So that’s our scenario.
Some regard Adeleke as being appreciated by all and really charismatic. Would you regard it as a real evaluation of the present governor of Osun State?
You could give it to him, one factor he is aware of how you can do is to bop. He’s a high quality dancer. When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu got here to Ibadan for Oba Ladoja’s coronation, he noticed Adeleke, and he mentioned ijo n’ko? (What about dance?). You gained’t see a Delta governor and ask him ijo n’ko?. You gained’t see an Akwa Ibom governor or a Niger governor and ask him ijo n’ko? You’ll ask him how is figure ? The president is aware of that he’s not working; the one factor he is aware of how you can do is dance. The president requested him ijo n’ko?
I don’t have an issue with the truth that he dances, no! My downside is that he’s a colossal failure. My downside is that for the reason that creation of Osun we by no means had a governor as dangerous as Governor Adeleke. Personally, I don’t have a problem with him; he is perhaps dancing, however what I would like is the outcome.
Aregbe had great programmes, however at a degree, all fell like a pack of playing cards. Why is it that politicians discover it troublesome to maintain good concepts?
Continuity for us was not an issue as a result of I served in each Aregbesola and Oyetola’s authorities.
There have been a variety of issues Aregbesola began that we continued.
A typical instance is one thing that has to do with the Gbongan- Akoda highway. We took it from I can’t keep in mind the proportion, however I keep in mind that by the point we had been going, we had gotten to 40 one thing per cent. There’s a widespread round highway, it’s referred to as ona baba ona, and we took it to a sophisticated stage; ditto Osogbo- Ikirun highway. We didn’t abandon these initiatives.
There have been numerous initiatives that had been began by Aregbe that we sustained.
The realm the place we had issues was with the insurance policies. There have been some insurance policies that the folks didn’t need, and so they had been complaining.
A superb instance was the case of a single college uniform; the case of a change of faculty names. We had a variety of useless battles, and since folks mentioned they didn’t need it, we needed to agree with the folks.
They mentioned they didn’t need the only uniform coverage and the DSS had been writing to us periodically to inform us that this single uniform coverage was enhancing crime.
We’d see that college students had been committing against the law in one other college, however you wouldn’t have the ability to determine them as a result of they had been sporting the identical uniform. On the finish of the day, we found that we misplaced the rationale for having a single uniform, so we needed to revert to the outdated one.
We additionally had a college coverage system that was totally different from others in Nigeria. We had been working in isolation, we had been having points, and so, we had to return.
We had divergent views on the world of insurance policies, we mentioned ‘oga after we made this factor, we thought it was going to work, however since it’s not working, allow us to return to what we used to have.’
However typically, some governments at instances often have issues with persevering with initiatives, not as a result of they don’t wish to, however due to funding.
Some help {groups} have promised the APC governorship candidate and President Tinubu 1 million votes. How possible is that this?
It’s possible as a result of Osun is without doubt one of the most underrated states in Nigeria. Are you aware that other than Lagos and Oyo State, no state in Southern Nigeria has had that quantity of votes for the presidential election like we had in 2023? Osun had 700,000, each events; Lagos had 1.1 million, Oyo had 750,000, even the almighty Rivers had lower than 500,000; Delta, and Akwa Ibom had lower than 600,000. Osun did 700,000, even the almighty Borno did lower than 500,000; most of those states within the north that they are saying have enormous votes did lower than 500,000.
What which means is that Osun is politically acutely aware. Osun is politically savvy, and with the scenario brewing up in the direction of the 2026 governorship election in Osun, I can predict that we’ll have near that. I gained’t be stunned as a result of the consciousness is excessive in Osun. I gained’t be stunned if we produce 1 million votes for the president.
If we may do 700,000 in 2023, and the consciousness was not this a lot, I gained’t be stunned if we do a million in Osun now. Osun is a politically savvy state, and the president has finished a lot for us in Osun. I’m positive folks will wish to reciprocate by guaranteeing that they vote for the president.
There’s a hearsay that Aregbe tried to return again, however some parts throughout the celebration blocked him. How true is that this?