By Solanke Ayomideji Taiwo
The former member of House of Representatives, Ife Federal Constituency, Honorable Rotimi Makinde who has since declared his unalloyed support for the Osun State Chief of Staff, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola as the governor of Osun State.
Oyetola is the Chief of Staff to Governor Aregbesola. He hails from Iragbiji in Osun Central Senatorial District. He is a strong force in the Osun governorship race.
Consistently, I have never been an apostle of zoning, I believe a public servant does not need to come from a particular place before he can do what is fair to all concerned. Alh Oyetola is truly from Osun Central Senatorial District which truly has produced governors before. I believe that factor is not enough to stop him. Interestingly, majority of the people in the state believe that he is Aregbesola’s anointed candidate, perhaps because Aregbesola would not want a mediocre to mess up his good legacies.
Aregbesola himself is not from Osun Central but because he had a good vision and begun the development of the state from the state capital Osogbo…Today we are all proud as indigenes of the state regardless of where we come from.
It is also an open secret that he (Oyetola) is a complete gentleman and one of the finest and vast technocrats that have been assisting the outgoing government, particularly at the challenging period.
Oyetola is the man of the people with the popular name (Ileri Oluwa). Gross of people are solidly behind his aspiration and working tirelessly for him to become the next governor, which simply meant that majority can not be wrong. To jettison such a seasoned administrator per excellence because he is related and close to our APC National Leader, Senator Bola Tinubu, which ordinarily should be a good reason for us to benefit from this great personality appeared to me as unreasonable, parochial and funny.
According to Makinde, “I can boldly tell you that even before the advent of the Aregbesola administration, Alh Oyetola spent more days in Osun than he spends in Lagos, anybody saying anything contrary is deceitful and shying away from the truth, he and others like me were all part of the 2007 political struggle and the ordeals that followed to reclaim the stolen mandate.”
I can also tell you in confidence that the incumbent chief of staff to Governor Rauf Aregbesola is a silent philanthropist, grassroots politician, a strategist, a respected community leader and one who holds the party in the state in high esteem through his financial commitment and thoroughbred discipleship.
“For the avoidance of doubt, what distinguished him from other politician is that he is not a noise maker”, Makinde said.
What if I tell you that as a revered community leader in Iragbiji, he has sponsored well above 200 indigent students to tertiary institution who today are all doing wonderfully well in their chosen career, that shows he has always been part of the educational and human capacity development in the state.
At times, when I hear people say, Oyetola is not qualified to contest in Osun, I laughed it off because if only they know him well, they will understand that he has a rich wealth of experience and expertise, having served meritoriously both in the private sector for well above thirty years and public sector as the chief of staff to the governor which is seen and adjudged to be the engine room of the administration with good track records, he has deep understanding about government business, human and financial administration, budgeting system and above all, he is a core party man, I took my time to consult and pray before I zeroed in on him among other fantastic personalities in the race which includes Alh Adeoti, Elder Peter Babalola, Mr Benedict Adegboyega Alabi, Rt Hon Najeem Salam, Elder Peter Babalola and Sen. Babajide Omoworare et al.
Though, the above mentioned aspirants are also qualified to run and meant well for the state but Ileri Oluwa koni lo lai se.