OSCOTECH: Osun APC cautions Gov. Adeleke not to create war over alleged relocation of courses
…No plan to open satellite campus at Ibokun — Adeleke
By Ismail Azeez, Osogbo
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun has cautioned Governor Ademola Adeleke not to turn Esa-Oke community into a theatre of war over alleged relocation of some courses at the Osun State College of Technology, Esa-Oke (OSCOTECH) to neighbouring towns.
Recall that in a video clip on social media some indigenes of Esa-Oke engaged in a peaceful protest round the town yesterday, objecting to the relocation of some courses in the school to the neighbouring town of Ibokun.
It was learnt that the protesting Esa-Oke people also carried the protest to the residences of some of the prominent traditional chiefs in the community, soliciting their intervention before it gets out of hand.
Commenting on the unsavoury development, the Osun State chairman of the APC, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, in a statement issued by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi, on Tuesday, affirmed the relocation of the new Mass Communication Department which is premised on the availability of the government-owned New Dawn Television Station in Ibokun.
Lawal who explained that the quality of any corporate body cannot be better than the quality of the people saddled with the leadership of such organisation went further to state that the current crisis that bedevilled Esa-Oke is a reflection of the evident maladministration of Adeleke in the state.
The state APC chairman hinted that a good policy of government might be misconstrued or negatively perceived by the interested public if shabbily carried out without an iota of diplomacy and tact by those at the echelon of authority.
Lawal observed that the area of inconsistency in the courses relocation issue is that while the state ministry of education is denying it through a memo, the governing board of the school is however, affirming the relocation of the new Mass Communication Department which is premised on the availability of the government-owned New Dawn Television Station in Ibokun.
In the words of the APC chairman: “It is irresponsible of any government to cause schism with its policy among the people of Esa-Oke and Ibokun who have an established life-long tie.
“Our further observation as a party is, why is it that since its inception, the Adeleke administration has been causing cataclysm in all the state-owned institutions of higher learning in the state?
“It is on record that the first institution to have a taste of the bitter pill of the Adeleke-led administration was The State Polytechnic, Iree; Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun and the School of Health Technology, Ilesa and still counting.
“Must the rudderless and purposeless Adeleke administration continue to blame the APC for its inability to provide qualitative governance for the people of the state as it was espoused by the chairman of the governing board of the College of Technology, Esa-Oke, in his interview on a radio station yesterday?
“It is observed that if the wives of some of the members and leaders of the PDP in the state have delayed pregnancies, there is every propensity for them to blame the same on the APC.
“Though we are not unaware that a person cannot give what he does not possess, the state PDP should go ahead with their fumbling and wobbling approach to governance to enable history place them where they truly belong,” Lawal stated.
Reacting, Governor Ademola Adeleke denied rumours and insinuations that his administration has approved a new satellite campus of the state College of Technology, Esa Oke at Ibokun.
In a statement by the Spokesperson to the State Governor, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, the report of a new satellite campus at Ibokun was described as untrue.
“I am directed to confirm to the good people of Esa Oke that no such approval was given by Mr Governor. The status quo ante remains.
“At no point in time has the Governor approved such a plan. The public should regard the report as the handiwork of mischief makers and failed attempt to disrupt the peace of that growing academic community.
“Mr Governor called on the youth and elders of Esa Oke to maintain peace and avoid incitement to violence,” he added.
