…Osun cannot afford a return to hardship and half-salaries
By: Comrade James Onifade
As the race for the 2026 Osun governorship election gathers momentum, Bola Oyebamiji, former Commissioner for Finance under the Oyetola administration, has thrown his hat into the ring. He presents himself as a man with the experience to govern. But that same experience, when closely examined, signals a clear and present danger: a plan to return Osun to the era of hardship, unpaid salaries, policy failures, and economic stagnation that the people rejected in 2022.
Oyebamiji is not hiding his intentions. His recent manifesto and public statements read like a blueprint to suffocate the civil service, inflict fresh pain on Osun people, and reverse the economic gains recorded under Governor Ademola Adeleke. Far from offering fresh ideas, his proposals recycle the APC’s failed governance model that left workers demoralised, pensioners in tears, and the state economy gasping for breath.
Oyebamiji’s 7-point agenda on education, healthcare, economy, agriculture, security, and infrastructure promises much but delivers nothing new. It echoes the same thinking that plunged Osun into generational debt with little infrastructure to show for it. His document reveals a mindset anchored in the past — reckless spending, policy somersaults, and contempt for the welfare of civil servants.
Osun workers still remember the pain of half salaries for 30 months, irregular payments, and dehumanising treatment under the government Oyebamiji served. The use of Coordinating Directors in place of Permanent Secretaries created chaos and uncertainty in the civil service. Promises made to workers were routinely broken while public resources were allegedly diverted to service private interests.
In contrast, Governor Adeleke has restored dignity to public service. He implemented the financial benefits of overdue promotions, cleared a significant portion of inherited salary arrears, and returned stability to the civil service by reinstating the proper structure of Permanent Secretaries. Civil servants now enjoy greater predictability in their welfare and a government that treats them as partners in development, not burdens.
Oyebamiji speaks about positioning agriculture as a major driver of economic growth. Yet his track record tells a different story. As Managing Director of OSICOL, he claimed the agency cultivated over 1,500 hectares of cocoa plantations. Years later, there is little visible evidence of sustainable impact or tangible benefits to the state’s economy from those claims.
Under the APC era, no single tractor was procured for farmers in 12 years. Governor Adeleke, within three years, has already delivered 31 new tractors with implements to boost productivity. The current administration is bridging infrastructure gaps that directly support economic activities — constructing dual carriageways in Iwo, Ede, Ilesa, and Ila Orangun, overhead bridges in Osogbo and Ile-Ife, and over 350 kilometres of roads statewide. These projects are opening up communities, reducing travel time, and stimulating commerce.
Oyebamiji’s approach threatens to reverse this momentum. His policies reflect the same fiscal indiscipline that ballooned Osun’s debt profile while delivering minimal dividends. A return to such governance will impoverish the economy, discourage investment, and push more families into hardship.
The dilapidated schools and healthcare centres inherited by Governor Adeleke bore testimony to the previous administration’s neglect. In just three years, significant improvements have been recorded: upgraded school infrastructure, better-equipped health facilities meeting international standards, improved performance in external examinations, and Osun clinching top positions in healthcare delivery in the Southwest for two consecutive years, complete with a $1 million prize.
Oyebamiji offers no convincing departure from the old ways. His manifesto merely repackages old failures. Osun people cannot afford to gamble with the future of their children and their health by entrusting power to someone who was part of the system that left these sectors in ruins.
Bola Oyebamiji is emerging as a proxy for the failed political order that Osun rejected four years ago. His emergence is not about progress but about regaining control to continue from where they stopped — suffocating the civil service through poor welfare policies, keeping the people in poverty, and running the economy into the ground.
Governor Adeleke has shown that governance can be people-centred. He is fixing roads, paying workers, supporting farmers, and restoring hope. The progress is visible and measurable. To risk handing power back to those who nearly ran the state aground would be a tragic mistake.
Osun people must see through the rhetoric and cheap promises. Oyebamiji’s mission, if elected, is clear: to suffocate civil servants, inflict pain on the people, and impoverish the Osun economy. The people of Osun cannot and must not allow that to happen.
The choice in 2026 is between continuity of progress under Governor Adeleke’s leadership and a dangerous return to the era of hardship. Osun has seen the difference. The people must now resolve never to go back.
E-signed: Comrade James Onifade
Advocate for Good Governance and A Better Judicial System
