Wole Oke’s Governorship Aspiration, An Insult On State Of Osun Indigenes

Hon Wole Oke

Promotion in life is said to be performance driven, hence any man that seeks to be promoted must have been able to perform to the level of expectation of his or her examiners. In leadership, the examiners are usually the followers and the masses entirely. If this age-long theory is said to still be relevant, then what on earth is Wole Oke thinking, when he decided to contest for the exalted post of the governor of State of Osun.


The people of Osun and Nigeria as a whole have learnt a lot ,when it comes to picking who leads them and we have as well realized that four years is no small period to leave in the hands of mediocre and political infidels. We have learnt from experience and even have given a benefit of doubts, but on all of these occasions, we have cried back home with burnt fingers. It is heart breaking that Wole Oke, who has been given, or should we say, has been privileged to have had the opportunity to prove his mettle as a leader of substance, but failed woefully to impact positively on the lots of the people he was supposed to represent at the Federal House of Representative could signify intention in the governorship race. He was quickly distracted by greed and self-centeredness, his thirst for more power enveloped him and it wasn’t long before he found himself amongst the destructive wagons that recruits thugs and silencers to suppress the eagle-eyed few.

I am not talking about a man I haven’t met with. As a seasoned writer and public relations personnel, it only took five minutes of meeting with Wole Oke (apology I refuse to include honourable because that title is only reserved for true nationalists) to discover that Obokun /Ori Ade Federal Constituency is set for an unproductive era. He was rude and uncultured. He lacks leadership acumen. He poised to be an unorganized person and his choice of words quickly gave him away as a shallow thinker. The meeting was at his compound in Esa-Oke. I was to deliver a letter to him written by a progressive set of students. He was eating moin moin and eko with his hands. He got the letter stained with the red oil from his meal, yet, he went ahead to complain that we brought a letter stained with oil to him. That moment. I couldn’t help, but to doubt his mental accuracy.

Before Wole Oke and his cohorts could have the guts to criticize the person of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola of destroying the legacy of the State of Osun , I want to create the indulgence to ask him what he knows about legacy and what legacy did he leave behind in the House of Representatives, where all he could do was sit and watch and whenever he tried to speak ,his words were usually obscured and lacked content and national value. Such was the case, when he sponsored a Bill seeking to amend the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) Act, 2004 and exempted members of the Nigeria Police, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Immigration Service, Nigerian Prisons Service, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) from the contributory pension scheme. The Deputy Speaker then, Usman Bayero, was quick to say and I quote: “I don’t know what he is trying to achieve.”

It is heartbreaking that Wole Oke addressed himself as the representatives of youths, even when in 2005, during a crisis that brewed between the students of Osun State College of Technology, Esa-Oke, which is his own hometown and the ruthless government of Olagunsoye Oyinlola, he could not even lend a voice or sympathize with the students. He couldn’t use his good offices to speak to the then governor to rescind the evil N10,000 reparation fee imposed on the innocent students and also the detention of some students by Oyinlola’s government. This single issue costs thousands of students to lose their admission, due to their inability to meet up with the fees then.

Where is your patriotism, if as a leader of the people, you refuse to invest in the youths of the constituency you represent (I am not talking about the gifts he gave to his thugs and political machinery)? If you are truly a man that is worthy of a vote of a single Osun State indigene, then make a publication in which you list the number of functional and completed projects you executed in your constituency. I remember Oke boasting of his educational achievements, but it’s heartbreaking that he finds it difficult to transfer that which he claims to have learnt into his leadership movement.

Bola Ige will groan in his grave, should someone of Oke’s calibre occupy the Bola Ige House. The State of Osun has not in a long time witnessed the great change that it is presently ongoing, a visit to Osun state by my humble self kept me wondering if this was the same state that used to be void of activities and highly unresourceful few years ago. Wole Oke claims to have a better way of governing Osun State than the present administration, then I can only wonder why he couldn’t have advised his elder brother, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, when they were at the helms of affairs, instead, they were busy man-hunting. I doubt if you know that the world is watching and the people are wiser now. You can keep your Okada and Aso Ebi, no one is ready to trade four years for four derica of rice anymore. How many hostels have you built for the students of Esa-Oke where you hail from to ease poor housing facilities? If you have not been thoughtful enough to do that, then tell us how you intend to improve on the housing development project in the State of Osun. Please sir, kindly point it out to us how many lecture theatres have you donated to institutions around you especially OSCOTECH, so that students won’t have to receive lectures at sport pavilion again? Tell us publicly and openly what is your personal project that the ordinary people of the State of Osun have benefitted from. Show us the functional boreholes that you sank, show us the quality and standard blocks of classrooms you built for the younger generation or the libraries you stock with textbooks (then you should applaud the initiative of Opon Imo), you should bury your head in shame, instead of condemning this active administration. If only PDP had done half of what Ogbeni Aregbesola has achieved so far, honestly, we could still have sympathized with you, but your performance as a House of Representatives member was way below average, because you were only there to represent yourself and not the people of Obokun/ Ori-Ade.

Dear Wole Oke, since one of your high points is self-education, why not undergo trainings on human capital development, acquire leadership skills and most importantly, financial management and please privately request for a diploma training in self-discipline, if there is anything like that or the equivalent.

The State of Osun has a great and formidable history. It’s a state I mention with pride, with my head high everywhere I go in the world. We don’t need people, who lack foresight and disregard the rule of law. We don’t need people, who are easily intimidated. We don’t need corporate criminals. We need people who will sustain our cultural value, our erstwhile sacredness, as the state with strong cultural heritage. A state with symbolic stories, where all towns possess fascinating stories that adorn the best of book archives in the world.

When good people rule, there will be peace. For the first time in the State of Osun, there is an unusual calm and peace around. From Asejire down to Ile-Ife, I could perceive tranquility unequal. And to the few naïve people who are still in the business of trading their future for peanuts in the State of Osun, singing praises of treasury looters and scammers, for you, I will borrow an adage from our fathers that says: Baale Ile ku tan, emu olokurun joye, ariwo yin ku’eekan. (The head of the clan died and you made a sickler his successor, you will soon weep again).

Dear school boy, since you claim to have more educational qualification than anyone else, why not have this take home assignment.

1. Kindly make a comprehensive report of your years in the House of Representatives; this must include the number of bills you sponsored and seconded and the number passed.

2. Kindly list the number of completed and functional constituency projects you executed during the aforementioned period and give a well articulated report on how the allocations released to you was spent.
These two will do for now. We will guide the interest of the State of Osun with the last blood in our veins. Osun is our source. We are true sons and daughters of the soil, a kii se omo atohunrinwa. Before you take the spike away from another man’s eyes, why not seek for help to lift the logs of wood in your eyes first.
The State of Osun only needs people who will embrace infrastructural development and also provide constructive criticism and not barbarians, who say so much about nothing. Ile Oodua is totally free from politics of deceit and oppressors. It’s time to work for the sake of posterity. Osun has finally found her flowing direction, a crystal clear water, void of stains and uncleanness. Once again, after a very long time, Ipinle Osun is at peace again. Wouldn’t you rather become an Omoluabi too?
Source: Osun Denfender