Mr Raufu Aregbesola,
incumbent governor of Osun state is clearly a desperate man. To try to salvage his sinking fortunes as
people get wise and outraged at his many antics, he is now claiming to have the
mandates of revered Christian leaders for his second-term bid. On his
facebook page and several other media, Mr Aregbesola drops the names of Pastor
E.A. Adeboye, Bishop David Oyedepo and Prophet S.K. Abiara as men of God who
have endorsed his candidature (see eg http://www.newsng.com/story-detail.php?title=More-Christian-communities-endorse-Aregbesola-%E2%80%93APC&story=30cd9a5557).
Reporting on comments made by
Bishop David Oyedepo during a recent visit to Osun state, Mr Aregbesola and his
gang conveniently forget to mention that the revered Bishop advised against
blowing one’s own trumpet, cautioning that it is the people who really can
comment on the performances of a man in public service. He also conveniently omitted mentioning that
the Bishop warned that it is not reasonable to want to change the identity of a
people without their consent and still expect them to quietly embrace such a
change. All the public is repeatedly
told by Aregbesola’s Lagos Press, is the latter aspect where the Bishop spoke
about impressive infrastructure that is being put in place, at last, in the
State.
Extremely outrageous is the
full page advert in the Guardian (page 73) of Friday 25th July, in which the All
Progressives Congress (APC) point-blankly claims that the highly respected
Pastor Adeboye has endorsed their
candidate for the guber polls. With a
smiling picture of Pastor Adeboye facing that of a towering Aregbesola, the APC
quoted Pastor Adeboye:
“Ogbeni
Rauf Aregbesola is an anointed governor.
We thank God for your life sir.
Nothing happens except God allows it, because we are not here by
accident. We are here because God had
decided it before the foundation of the world.
And I m particularly proud. I am
proud that you are here. I want the best
for Osun State and I am believing God that during your tenure, the Almighty God
will do mighty things. We will support
you hundred percent in prayers. Every
member of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Osun State will know they
have a duty to pray for you to succeed.
And you will succeed.”
A similar full-page advert
was also more recently repeated in the Nation’s newspaper.
However, the featured quote
was from far back 2011, at a time when there were no political campaigns in the
air. In actual fact, Mr Aregbesola was then just starting his term, and the
Pastor was merely dutifully pledging the cooperation of the Church in both
prayers and other assistances. To draw this out of the archives and now present
it as a fresh endorsement is most despicable indeed. And it only points out to absolute
desperation on the part of Mr Aregbesola.
Now, Ogbeni Aregbesola might
as well go away scot-free with the building of roads at 20 times the regular
costs; or the monthly repatriation of an incredible, outrageous 10-15% of total
tax collected from citizens of the state (mostly government workers) back to
his boss and mentor in Lagos state in the guise of paying some Tax Consultants;
or the many other half-thought-out failing policies which are currently pitting
him against the people. After all, all
these are still in the realm of politics where things are hardly
straight-forward.
However, by now drawing
Pastor Adeboye and other revered men of God into the fray of partisan
politicking, Mr Aregbesola might as well be stacking the back of his camel with
the proverbial last back-breaking straw.
It is absolutely unthinkable
that Pastor Enoch Adeboye will be coming out to give an unreserved endorsement
(or any one for that matter) for a politician of the caliber of Mr Aregbesola,
a man totally sold-out to using state funds and machinery to promote the revival
of the dead and dying deities of Yorubaland.
In the name of cultural renaissance, Mr Aregbesola has proudly and
defiantly committed millions of naira of state funds to sponsor the Isese festival which last year
celebrated 9 disappearing deities of Yorubaland. This year, the plan is to revive and celebrate
32 of them. There is, of course, an
official public holiday for the celebrations. Likewise, ostensibly to balance the
use of state funds to sponsor Christian and Moslem pilgrimages, Mr Aregbesola has started
sending dozens of induced/seduced Yoruba youths to Cuba for indoctrination into
the service of the dead Yoruba gods and goddesses. The more talked-about Islamic jihadists moves
of Mr Aregbesola are essentially bribes he is gleefully trying to use to
silence the Moslem folks and gain their acquiescence to his more blatantly
idolatory moves in the State. That makes
him certified double-disaster for the Church of God in Osun state.
Mr Aregbesola’s antics and
goals are aptly summarized in his unilaterally changing the name of the State
from “Osun State” to the equivalent of “Osun’s State”, attempting an Esau-Jacob
kind of spiritual sell-out. But even he
himself is too ashamed to display the occult-inspired flag he was given to fly
to accompany the change of name. Beyond
its initial public unveiling, nobody seems bold enough (at least for now) to
hoist the cowries-decked flag either at the State Secretariat, or at State
functions.(See the flag here)
It is an open secret that
virtually every politician seeking some top office in Nigeria has had to call
on Pastor Adeboye to seek his blessings.
The list ranged from Presidents Obasanjo, Yar Adua, Jonathan, to the
likes of Buhari, Amaechi, and a host of others.
But never had Pastor Adeboye given a public endorsement to any candidate
for a political post. And never had any
candidate issued full-page adverts in national newspapers trying to claim they
have such an endorsement. Not even Governor
Mimiko of Ondo State, an open disciple of Pastor Adeboye, could make such a
claim in the heat of his re-election campaign.
Incidentally, Mr Aregbesola of Osun state was the self-declared major
opponent in that contest!
The on-going deceitful
desperate moves by Mr Aregbesola, throwing decency to the gutters and drawing
revered men of God and the Church into a dirty dog-fight, just to save his own
skin, might as well backfire on him as people begin to realize the incredible
depths of his deception and desperation.
Hopefully, the men of God involved will sooner than later be provoked to
the point of having to issue some official rebuttal to Mr Aregbesola’s opprobrious
acts being carried out with impunity.
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