ABOUT one year and four months after taking over rein of the state, Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has moved into the Okefia Government House, Osogbo, the official residence of the governor.
Adeleke was sworn in on Sunday, November 27, 2022, and rather than moving into the Government House to live like his predecessors, he chose to return to his private house in Ede, a neigbouring town to Osogbo.
Despite criticisms by the opposition All Progressives Congress, Adeleke remained in his private house and sometimes conducted the business of the state from there.
He explained that the Government House was under renovation.
However, a statement on Sunday by his spokesman, Olawale Rasheed, said the renovation had been completed and Adeleke had finally moved in.
Rasheed explained that the rehabilitation work covered the main house, the completion of an abandoned multi-bedroom guest house, remodelling of many of the structures, and refixing of many derelict facilities.
Speaking at the unveiling of the renovated Government House, an event attended by top officials of the Osun State Government, Adeleke said his administration was committed to upgrading state assets irrespective of whether such programmes were inherited or commenced by him.
He said, “I have upgraded the Government House just as I rehabilitated the Governor’s Office. We ensured the Government House was rescued from the open neglect we inherited. You can all see the upgraded facilities which now place our state in good stead in the comity of states.
“I met an abandoned guest house where top dignitaries can be hosted instead of huge bills on outside accommodation. I ordered its rehabilitation and today it is completed.
“The Presidential Lodge I met on the ground was in a terrible state. Our team fixed it.
“Our administration is passionate about upgrading state assets because they are for generations even yet unborn. We must act genuinely on the mantra that government is a continuum. Abandoning projects or state assets as Osun witnessed in the recent past is a sign of bad leadership.”
Adeleke said his government was not only completing inherited projects but was also initiating new ones.
“To the good people of Osun State, your governor has moved into the Government House. I pledge to redouble our efforts at delivering on the five-point agenda. We are truly fixated on sustaining the delivery of good governance,” he said.
But reacting, Osun APC Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, described the renovated Government House as a misplaced priority.
Lawal, in a statement, said, “It is a pity that while the counterparts of Governor Adeleke in other states are preoccupied with how to lessen the debilitating effects of the Federal Government removal of fuel subsidy through palliatives, the Osun State governor was busy celebrating something that cannot positively impact the people of the state.
“We want to impress it on Governor Adeleke and his co-travellers that we, just like other discerning members of the public in Osun State, are not amused by the Adeleke N1bn rehabilitated Government House which had already been rehabilitated to taste by the immediate-past Governor Gboyega Oyetola now Minister of Marine and Blue Economy.”