A PAMPHLET OF DESPERATION BY A PARTY AT WAR WITH TRUTH: OSUN APC’S FUTILE ATTEMPT TO SMEAR GOVERNOR ADEMOLA ADELEKE

 A PAMPHLET OF DESPERATION BY A PARTY AT WAR WITH TRUTH: OSUN APC’S FUTILE ATTEMPT TO SMEAR GOVERNOR ADEMOLA ADELEKE

By Arewa Oluwaseun

The so-called press statement issued by the Osun chapter of the All Progressives Congress through its Director of Media and Information, Mogaji Kola Olabisi is not merely laughable; it is a tired compilation of conjectures, desperate political fiction and a spectacular exhibition of political desperation wrapped in the tattered cloak of propaganda.

It is a document that betrays not only the intellectual poverty of its author but also the deep frustration of a political party that has clearly lost both moral authority and political relevance in the affairs of Osun State. It reads less like a serious political critique and more like the frustrated outburst of a group that has watched its influence evaporate before the overwhelming acceptance of Ademola Adeleke by the people of Osun State.

One must ask, what exactly motivates such a reckless outpouring of baseless allegations? Only an enemy of progress or one deeply afflicted by political amnesia could even attempt to rewrite reality so shamelessly. Indeed, only a political organization suffering from a severe crisis of relevance would assemble such a chaotic catalogue of accusations in the hope that repetition might magically transform fiction into fact. The statement is so riddled with contradictions, bitterness and intellectual laziness that it ultimately exposes the tragic decline of a party that once claimed to represent progressive ideals but now survives mainly on the oxygen of misinformation.

The attack on Governor Adeleke’s qualification is particularly pathetic. This tired allegation has been dragged through both in the courts and in the court of public opinion so many times that it now resembles a broken record stuck on the same embarrassing note. The judiciary has repeatedly refused to entertain these baseless claims, yet the APC continues to parade them like relics from a failed political museum. One is left to wonder whether the authors of the statement are deliberately insulting the intelligence of the Osun electorate or merely revealing their inability to accept reality.

Even more astonishing is the attempt to portray Governor Adeleke as financially reckless. If the APC had invested half the energy it uses in manufacturing propaganda into governing responsibly when it held power, Osun State would not have been left with the administrative fatigue and developmental stagnation that the present government inherited. Today, under Adeleke’s leadership, roads are being constructed and rehabilitated, workers are receiving their due attention and governance has regained a sense of urgency that had long been absent. These are visible facts that no amount of propaganda can erase.

But perhaps the most revealing aspect of the statement is its descent into childish mockery about the governor’s public dances. When a political party abandons policy arguments and begins to attack a leader’s personality in such petty fashion, it is usually the clearest sign that it has run out of ideas. Governor Adeleke’s authenticity and connection with ordinary citizens are precisely what make him popular and it is this natural bond with the people that appears to torment his opponents the most.

The allegations surrounding the teachers’ recruitment exercise are equally flimsy. Rather than present verifiable evidence through the proper institutional channels, the APC has chosen the familiar route of speculative arithmetic and sensational accusations. Such tactics may create temporary headlines, but they do nothing to disguise the emptiness of the claims. Recruitment exercises in public institutions follow administrative procedures and the attempt to portray them as grand conspiracies only reinforces the perception that the opposition is clutching at straws.

What truly stands out in the entire statement is the tone of bitterness that runs through every paragraph. It is the bitterness of a political establishment that has been decisively rejected by the electorate and is now struggling to remain visible in the public arena. Instead of rebuilding credibility or offering alternative ideas, the APC appears determined to embark on a continuous mission of political self-destruction through poorly crafted propaganda.

The people of Osun State are far too discerning to be misled by such theatrics. They know the difference between governance and grandstanding, between development and distortion. While the opposition busies itself with press releases that read like desperate fiction, the Adeleke administration continues to focus on the serious business of governing.

At this point, one might even advise the authors of such statements like Mogaji Kola Olabisi to reconsider the damage they are doing to their own credibility. Every new outburst of unfounded allegations only deepens the public perception that the APC in Osun has lost both direction and dignity. Persisting on this path will not weaken Governor Adeleke; it will merely accelerate the political irrelevance of those who continue to manufacture these attacks.

History is rarely kind to those who wage war against obvious reality. And if the APC continues down this road of relentless misinformation, it may soon discover that the loudest casualty of these press releases is not the reputation of Governor Adeleke, but the final remnants of its own credibility in Osun State.