Many see him as controversial, others say he is influential.
Like or loathe him but you cannot ignore Senator Iyiola Omisore when it comes
to the politics of Osun State in particular and Nigeria in general.
Senator Omisore was once a Deputy Governor of the State, and
one of the few politicians who had ever won an election while in prison
custody!
The former Senator and Chairman, Senate Appropriation
Committee is the PDP Gubernatorial candidate for Osun State South West Nigeria,
and in this engaging interview, Editor, Michael Effiong asks him the reasons
for his latest political adventure.
What is your opinion on the idea of calling your State, the
State of Osun
Actually, there is nothing bad in the state being called the
State of Osun because we are running a confederation system, a state is a
federating unit like the States of Maryland, Ohio, and Texas.
Some people call it the Texas State too. It is actually the
same thing. But the problem we are having with (Ogbeni Rauf ) Aregbesola is
that he is turning it into a big deal. The problem Aregbesola has is that he is
not well grounded, so little issues seem big to him. He uses non issues like
this to cover his shortcomings. Osun is State of Osun and Lagos is Lagos State.
It does not make any difference. He has
wasted so much money in branding, changing the letter head
and logo etc. All these show of radicalism and waste of public funds is to
cover up for corruption, inefficiency, and violence in the state. So, there is
nothing bad in it; it is just a matter of semantics.
Can you sing the new Osun anthem
Is there a new anthem in the state? I am unaware. But every
state has the right to have its anthem. We have an anthem in Ife, the same with
Osogbo. Aregbesola is afraid of his shadow. He is afraid of the way he came in
through the back door when they stole the mandate through a court judgment. So,
you must create issues to get people busy. He decided to keep himself, the citizens
and Nigerians busy, so that they will not ask questions from him. It is a good
tactic that has worked for him.
What is wrong with Osun that you want to fix
First, Osun is a state that is blessed with enormous human
resources. It is very peaceful and violence free. The people go about their
normal businesses without disturbance. But, they are also yearning for
development. Today, the untold hardship the Aregbesola administration has
brought to the people is enormous. The worst problem we have in Osun today is
the issue of religion; it has broken nations. If not for the patience,
tolerance and maturity of the Osun people, the state would have been in crises
by now. He has introduced religious bigotry to cause confusion, create
distraction and divert people’s attention from the realities on ground.
Christians and Muslims have always lived in Harmony in Osun, why come with an
Education policy that may cause disaffection, we all know that it is said that
if something is not broken don’t fix it. Why is he trying to fix what has no
problem? Meanwhile, areas that have problems have not been attended to.
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