FORMER Speaker, Osun State House of Assembly, Hon Adejare Bello, on Tuesday said the incumbent Governor Rauf Aregbesola would have emerged as the best governor in the history of the state if he takes other peoples’ advice for the effective management of human and capital resources in public administration.
Bello, who contended that nobody in the world can claim to have a monopoly of knowledge on all issues, observed that reasonable inputs of others and stronger ideas were germane to the success of any individual saddled with the onerous task of running of a state or Nigeria as a corporate entity.
The ex-speaker made these disclosures in Osogbo, Osun State capital while submitting his intention letter to contest the forthcoming September 22, 2018 governorship poll at the state secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Recalling his experience under of government of former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Aregbesola, Bello maintained that Aregbesola’s major failing as governor was his unwillingness to take advice, stressing that “Oyinlola’s biggest monthly allocation as governor was N1.8billion and he did his best to affect lives of Osun people positively. Rauf Aregbesola would have been the best governor in the history of Osun, but he does not take advise. He is Mr. know all.”
According to him, “I have the experience. I served all the governors that have ruled Osun state and my twelve years as a lawmaker had given me in-depth knowledge about governance in the state.
In 1999, the then Governor Bisi Akande was paying us N90,000 as state lawmakers since salaries and wages commission had not fixed our monthly take home. After six months, Akande said N90,000 was too much and that henceforth we would be earning N60,000.
“He (Akande) said we could not be earning more than Permanent Secretary. I stood up to him during the meeting. I told him we would not accept his high handedness. When he sacked workers, I told him he could not do that.
And I was barred from Government House. N1.8 billion was the highest monthly allocation received during Oyinlola’s administration and yet he had tangible achievements as governor.
“When agitations for new minimum wage began from workers. Oyinlola was not interested because Osun was earning very little. When workers approached me, I decided to intervene.
When I met Oyinlola, I pleaded with him and he agreed. Oyinlola was listening to us then. I managed three governors successfully but I suffered under Aregbesola as speaker of the state House of Assembly,” Bello remarked.
He, however, vowed to run a responsive government if elected as the governor of the state by addressing major socio-economic challenges, confronting the people, adding that he was ready to give due respect to the leadership of the party by getting them actively involved in all programmes of his administration.
In his response, the chairman of the PDP in Osun, Hon Soji Adagunodo assured all governorship aspirants in the party of fairness, equality and due process during the primary exercise, where the candidate of the party for September 22, 2018, gubernatorial election.
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