BY: OLUMIDE LAWAL
It is rather a very unsetting time in Osun State, regarding the ministerial slot for the state. A situation that has triggered accusation and counter accusations from various interest groups, mainly for their own selfish interest.
To discerning minds, the issue of ministerial slot for Osun State should be a matter of serious shifting and weight among the political juggernaut in the state, who actually worked for the realization of the success of President Mohammed Buhari, at the March 28 election.
By the present turn of events, as presently constituted, it requires sanity on the parts of the powers-that-be, to do the right thing to give the state a representative, that is acceptable to them. Inasmuch, as I am not a fan of any nominee, particularly Professor Issac Adewole, but the critical issue is that, here in Osun, and as in the past, we have enough materials in the political arena to fit the bill of a ministerial slot.
So many of us, who are familiar with the political terrain of Osun State, are of the opinion, that a labourer deserves his pay as promptly as possible. And this applies to the issue of ministerial slot for Osun and the eminent politicians that staked all they had in the conquest of PDP in Osun State. They deserve to be carried along and get one of their own in place as a minister.
Osun central district particularly, has able and capable hands that could be saddled with the responsibility. The thorough-bred politicians in this zone put everything in place to identify with APC, although they could have remained in PDP. How do we want those that they left behind in PDP, rate them in APC bloc? Is it as a people used and dumped by APC as a non-entity and political featherweight? The like of Senator Kolawole Ogunwale, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola are very worthy of consideration, all factors put together. These two eminent politicians among others have paid their dues in Osun APC politics.
It is on record, that Senator Kola Ogunwale majorly, gave his vast resources to rally support for APC in Osun State at the August 9 governorship election and March 28, 2015 presidential election. His like deserves recognition by President Mohammed Buhari. Senator Felix Kolawole Ogunwale will go down in the political history of Osun State, as a veritable and committed politician, who made his vast wealth outside politics as far back as 1975 and invested such wealth heavily in it for the benefit of the electorate and positive politicking.
Osun State will definitely witness an uphill task in the future elections, if core politicians of no mean repute, are left out of the present allotment of major political offices, if what is happening right now is anything to go by. President Mohammed Buhari, should as a matter of urgency, redress the imbalance in the present political patronages he has extended to Osun in the area of ministerial appointment. It is not too late to make amends, so that those, who with hearts of steel, left PDP for APC in 2014, will not become a buff of joke and laughing stock before their former colleagues in PDP.
The likes of Senator Kolawole Ogunwale should not be made to regret their present sojourn in APC. Here is a Senator, who was adjudged the best in Osun, as far as the 5th Senate (2003-2007) was concerned. That is a no mean feat by all standards.
OLUMIDE LAWAL
EDE, OSUN STATE.
