Osun guber debate: Candidates make promises

The governorship candidates for the September 22 election on Sunday engaged in a television debate with promises to uplift the fortunes of the people of Osun state.

Among the candidates who participated in the debate are the former Secretary to the State Government (SSG) under Governor Rauf Aregbesola, Mr. Moshood Adeoti, who is the candidate of the Action Democratic Party(ADP) and Mr. Gboyega Oyetola, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress.

Others are Senator Iyiola Omisore of Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Mr. Fatai Akinbade, candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) .

Senator Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did not attend the debate which was facilitated by Channels Television on Sunday night.

Adeoti promised to correct the lapses in implementation of policies if elected governor of the state.

In response to the question on if he truly referred to the administration of Rauf Aregbesola as wasteful after he left the camp of the incumbent governor, Adeoti said he never described all the efforts of Aregbesola as wasteful.

“During the time that I was in that government, we had some projects which were executed for the benefit of the people of Osun.

“Not all the projects are bad. Some of the projects we embarked upon were good while some others were bad.

“There was nothing bad in the policies of our administration but when it comes to the implementation stage, that is when one problem or the other comes in.

“This is where I am ready to correct the lapses in the implementation of some of these policies,” he said.

Adeoti stressed that his goal is to bring development and good governance to Osun State and added that he would boost the state economy through agricultural revolution.

“My aim is to turn the economy of Osun State around, pay salaries regularly, create jobs, empower youths, and embark on agricultural revolution.

“Before the discovery of oil in Nigeria, agriculture was the mainstay of our economy and in order to garner IGR for the state, we have to energise our effort towards rejuvenating the agricultural sector.”

On his part, Akinbade said he would plug leakages in revenue generation.

“If there are wastes in terms of revenue that comes to the state, you may not make any headway.

“So, we will first plug all the loopholes from where the revenue is getting out and make sure that the system of government is improved upon because if the system of government is not improved upon and there is no accountability, transparency and due process is not followed, definitely, there is no amount of economic development that you want to do without all these steps taken,” he said.

Akinbade also promised to improve the economic fortunes of the state by transforming the civil servants he says are responsible for the economy.

“The issue of the civil servants has to come to bear because when you look at the economy, the economy starts from the civil service. When they don’t get their salaries, definitely nothing will move,” he added.

Also, the ADC candidate vowed that his administration would boost education in the state to ensure the citizens have the knowledge to spur the development of the state.

Omisore also promised to better the lots of the people and spoke extensively on the killing of former Justice minister Bola Ige.

Ige was assassinated in December 2001.

He denied any involvement in the killing of Ige and explained that he had been discharged by the High Court but that the case was still pending in the Appeal Court.

Omisore said that it was his wish that the federal government would eventually search and find the killers.