Opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) engaged in a war of words on Monday over the convening of a cabinet meeting.
The APC argued that the inability of Gov. Ademola Adeleke to hold a state executive council meeting after 54 days of its inauguration was not good for democratic development the state.
The PDP countered, however, that it took the immediate past Gov. Gboyega Oyetola of the APC almost a year to hold such meeting after the 2018 governorship election.
Chairman of the APC in Osun, Mr Tajudeen Lawal, stated that the inability of Gov. Adeleke to convey state executive meeting confirmed that he only sought the glamour of office.
He stressed that the governor had no tangible programme for the development of Osun.
He added that it was worrisome that the governor had been appropriating funds for the running of the state without holding state executive meetings.
“Since Gov. Adeleke inaugurated his cabinet with fanfare on July 19, his attempt at a first state executive meeting was cancelled because of some reasons adduced by the governor.
“Stakeholders in the state should not treat the issue at hand with levity as it is strange for a democratic government to refuse to hold executive meetings for about two months,’’ Lawal stated.
Malam Olawale Rasheed, media aide to Gov. Adeleke, promptly reacted to Lawal’s statement.
He stated that the APC should be reminded that former Gov. Oyetola held his maiden state executive council meeting on Nov. 4, 2019, almost a year after the 2018 governorship election.
He added that the APC did not have any moral justification to accuse the current administration of either not holding or not announcing to the public the meetings of the state executive council.
“As much as we are not using the abysmal record of the previous government as a yardstick, we must point at the obvious deceit of the badly-split state APC in Osun.
“Members of the public are assured that their governor and his cabinet are working round-the-clock to expand delivery of democratic dividends and correct the big mess of the recent past,’’ Rasheed stated. (NAN)