The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State has denied distributing bags of rice in the state in order to get votes in the August 9 governorship election.
A chieftain of the party, Chief Francis Fadahunsi, said he was the one distributing the bags of rice on behalf of the party.
The governorship candidate of the party, Senator Iyiola Omisore, had while featuring on a programme on Channels Television on Sunday denied, giving rice to anyone in the state blaming the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the allegation, as Fadahunsi rose in his defence saying he resorted to give out bags of rice to alleviate poverty in the state.
However, while speaking with journalists in Osogbo yesterday, Fadahunsi, declared that the gesture was not in any way connected to the forthcoming gubernatorial poll in the state, noting he has been giving out food items, clothing and employment opportunities to indigents people of the state many years before now.
The chieftain who stressed that he deliberately didn’t seek consent of the party’s flag bearer before distributing the bags of rice to the people across the state, said it was not the first time he would show such gesture to the people, adding that his names were bodily inscribed on the bags of rice to avoid controversy.
According to him, “I am behind it and it did not start today. So, why the noise about it? I am distributing bags of rice and not poverty-stricken rice of a module per person that APC is giving to the people.
“It is my own little way of helping my people out of poverty since the government that promised in its six-point integral action plan to banish poverty four years ago, but even when almost completing its tenure, has failed to alleviate, let alone banishing it.”
Fadahunsi added: “The level of poverty in the state has considerably risen under the administration of Rauf Aregbesola and that is why well meaning individual must start to lend helping hands before hunger begins to kill the people. We have seen introduction of several programmes in agriculture sector since Aregbesola became governor and yet a module of garri which was N80 in 2010 now sells for N140 despite all the noise about his government’s interventions in the sector,” Fadahunsi averred.
He asked the electorate to vote for PDP in the August 9 election, stressing that the present state of the state economy has made the people poorer and that the situation can only be reversed if PDP is given opportunity to lead the state in the next transition.
Also, the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr. Olusegun Akinwusi, has described the last Saturday’s live debate featuring only the state governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, on the state-broadcasting outfit as a charade and a mockery of Osun people.
Akinwusi in an interview in Osogbo yesterday stated that the debate was stage-managed as part of the “usual” propaganda of the Aregbesola government.
According to him, “We have 20 governorship candidates in Osun State. I am the first person to have challenged Aregbesola to a live debate to let us discuss the state economy, the huge debt profile of the state and his so-called achievement.
“Information had it that the so-called international community said to have organised the debate never existed and my two co-contestants at Labour Party and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were invited on phone an hour to the programme.
“For the avoidance of doubt, if Aregbesola is manly enough, he should let us sit together to debate about his governance. Who is afraid of Akinwusi that they are trying to avoid him to speak to the public about our state?” he asked.
The former Head of Service (HOS) further lashed out at the state government for going on air to announce the payment of workers’ salaries and pensions.
According to him, “This is an aberration and a bad precedence. By going on the radio and the television to announce that government has paid salaries, you only put civil servants on the pressure and this is uncalled for.”
The SDP candidate explained that payment of salaries and pensions are normal duty of any government. “The civil servants have done their part by working and the state has the responsibility by paying them. When workers have fulfilled their part of contract, the state government must play theirs as well.”
Akinwusi reinstated his commitment to ensure that the state public service is put on the right path if elected as the governor, saying as his former constituency, he will ensure a better welfare package for them.
“The civil service is my constituency and I will never betray them. There will be an end to salary and pension delay, our teachers will be taken care of appropriately and other welfare packages of public servants will be properly taken care of,” he added.
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