Osun College of Technology Crisis: Don’t turn community into theatre of war, APC cautions Gov. Adeleke

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo

The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has cautioned the Ademola Adeleke-led government in the state not to turn Esa-Oke community into a theatre of war with the constant policy somersault of his administration.

The State chairman of the APC, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, in a statement issued by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi, on Tuesday gave the warning while reacting to the development of the alleged relocation of some courses from Osun State College of Technology (OSCOTECH), Esa- Oke to Ibokun.

Lawal who explained that the quality of any corporate body cannot be better than the quality of the people saddled with the leadership of such an organization noted that the current crisis that bedevilled Esa-Oke is a reflection of the evident maladministration of Adeleke in the state.

The state APC chairman hinted that a good policy of government might be misconstrued or negatively perceived by the interested public if shabbily carried out without an iota of diplomacy and tact by those at the echelon of authority.

He observed that the area of inconsistency in the courses relocation issue is that while the state Ministry of Education is denying it through a memo, the governing board of the school is however, affirming the relocation of the new Mass Communication Department which is premised on the availability of the government-owned New Dawn Television Station in Ibokun.

His words: “It is irresponsible of any government to cause schism with its policy among the people of Esa-Oke and Ibokun who have an established life-long tie.

“Our further observation as a party is, why is it that since its inception, the Adeleke administration has been causing cataclysm in all the state-owned institutions of higher learning in the state?

“It is on record that the first institution to have a taste of the bitter pill of the Adeleke-led administration was The State Polytechnic, Iree; Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun and the School of Health Technology, Ilesa and still counting.

“Must the rudderless and purposeless Adeleke administration continue to blame the APC for its inability to provide qualitative governance for the people of the state as it was espoused by the chairman of the governing board of the College of Technology, Esa-Oke, in his interview on a radio station yesterday?

“It is observed that if the wives of some of the members and leaders of the PDP in the state have delayed pregnancies, there is every propensity for them to blame same on the APC.

“Though we are not unaware that a person cannot give what he does not possess, the state PDP should go ahead with their fumbling and wobbling approach to governance to enable history place them where they truly belong”, Lawal stated.

The State APC sympathized with the people of Esa-Oke, the staff and management of the state College of Technology situated in the town over their bitter experience of the whirlwind of the maladministration of the Peoples Democratic Party-led Governor Ademola Adeleke’s government which has been causing avoidable crisis in the tertiary institution of late.

It will  be recalled that indigenes of the town engaged in a peaceful protest round the town yesterday, objecting the relocation of some courses in the school to the neighbouring town of Ibokun, a distance of about ten kilometres away.

It was gathered that during the protest, three masquerades which rarely make an appearance in the community unless in a very difficult and painful situation were made to join the protesting Esa-Oke people to show the magnitude of the relocation issue embarked upon by the governing board of the institution of higher learning.

It was further learnt that the protesting Esa-Oke people also carried the protest to the residences of some of the prominent traditional chiefs in the community, soliciting their intervention before it gets out of hands.

The people of the town had alleged that the current governing board chairman of the school, Hon Diran Odeyemi, who hails from Ibokun is taking an undue advantage of his position to influence the relocation of the courses to his town.

In a swift reaction, Governor Ademola Adeleke has denied rumours and insinuations that his administration has approved a new satellite campus of the state College of Technology, Esa Oke at Ibokun.

In a statement by the Spokesperson to the State Governor, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, described the report of a new satellite campus at Ibokun as untrue.

He said, “I am directed to confirm to the good people of Esa Oke that no such approval was given by Mr Governor. The status quo ante remains.

“At no point in time has the Governor approved such a plan. The public should regard the report as the handiwork of mischief makers and failed attempt to disrupt the peace of that growing academic community

“Mr Governor called on the youth and elders of Esa Oke to maintain peace and avoid incitement to violence.”