A civil rights advocacy group, the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEOS), has urged the National Assembly not to confirm the former Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The group in a statement issued in Osogbo on Thursday and signed by its Chairman, Comrade Adeniyi Alimi Sulaiman, and Secretary, Comrade Ebenezer Oladapo, explained that clearing Aregbesola as a Minister would be very unfortunate, sad and an act detrimental to the ethos of good governance.

According to CSCEOS, Aregbesola ran the most oppressive, corrupt and wicked governments in Osun State, adding the ex-governor is not fit in all ramifications to be saddled with the leadership responsibility at the national level.

“Aregbesola’s reign brought untold pains and hardship on the people of the state while his anti-peoples policies sent many to their early graves and till today the injuries he inflicted on the citizenry are yet to be healed.

“Aregbesola's administration in our state represented disaster, destruction, evil, mis-governance, satanic and brutish as he made life unbearable for the good people of the State. Today, Osun State still owes her workers and retirees over 13 months of salaries and arrears.

“We wondered in the first instance how President Muhammadu Buhari had to include Aregbesola in his ministerial list. Which ministry is he going to serve? Did Buhari ever investigate how Aregbesola managed Osun State? Did Buhari know that Aregbesola’s governance brought Osun unto her kneels?

“He destroyed the state’s education and health sectors. Aregbesola cannot record a single success in the mainstream sector which is agriculture.

“Roads are in comatose in the state. Why is a kilometre of roads in Osun being awarded as a rate of N1 billion? Yet, Osun is the third most indebted state in Nigeria courtesy of Aregbesola.

“Let our Senators ask Aregbesola what happened to the so-called tablet of knowledge ‘Opon-Imo’, O-Uniform, O-Ram, O-Tram, O-Meat, O-School, O-Hub and many other ‘Os’ projects. Let them ask Aregbesola how much he spent on MKO Abiola Airport. Let the senators ask our former governor how he spent over N500billion loans he took.

“We need ask him why, out of 36 states, he was the only one who changed the name of the state to “State of Osun” and why was he the only one running a parliamentary system in the state local governments in a presidential system?

“Aregbesola should tell the world who the ‘State Boys’ are? He should tell everyone why he decided to be paying half salaries to workers and why he refused to pay retirees in spite of billions of naira bailouts by the federal government.

“Maybe the President did not know that our group wrote several petitions to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Criminal Practices Commission (ICPC) attaching vital documents on how Aregbesola and his cohorts, one of them serving as Senator today, stole billions of naira. Yet, the anti-graft agencies never make any effort to investigate them possibly because the men are in the good book of the presidency.”

CSCEO stated that Aregbesola is not fit to represent the state in the yet to be constituted Buhari-led government, urging him to withdraw the ministerial nominee.

The group warned that if the Senate gives its nod to the nomination of Aregbesola, the people of the State would be cursing President Buhari and the leadership and members of the Upper Chamber everyday till the end of their tenure.

"Again, we reinstate that Rauf Aregbesola put Osun State into debt regime and milked the State dry and today the state finds it difficult to perform her obligations of paying workers’ salaries and pensions”, the statement added.

Update news