"Don't Create More Local Governments", PDP Warns Aregbesola

The Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Sunday advised Governor Rauf Aregbesola  to suspend his plans to create additional 39 new Local Government Councils in the state. 

In a statement issued in Osogbo by the party's Director of Media and Strategy, Prince Diran Odeyemi, the party said "the reality in Osun calls for serious planning because the economy of the state now or even in the near future cannot cope with bogus 69 Local Governments when it could not generate funds to develop the present 36 councils including an Area Office. 

"This is a  poorly conceived idea, lacking understanding and needs of the people of Osun State while its proposed execution at this time shows that Governor Aregbesola has lost ideas of what is next in the state."

Osun State House of Assembly at the twilight of its tenure passed a bill establishing 36 additional Local Government Councils after considering the outcome of a referendum conducted by Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, OSSIEC.

PDP said the rest of the country must be astonished about a governor "that has not been able to fulfill his financial obligations to the workforce and plunged the state economy into crisis, but interestingly plans to create new councils to make Osun the only state in Nigeria to have 69 Councils". 

The PDP added that Aregbesola, rather than taking into consideration the peculiar needs of Osun State and its financial capacity, has been implementing wholesale all programmes of Lagos State, which the party claimed has been counter productive.

"Copying Lagos' notes is affecting Osun negatively. Buying a helicopter, creating LCDAs, planting flowers are all Lagos ideas. Aregbesola is running Osun as a sole administrator. In his first term, it took him almost one year before he could constitute a cabinet. 

"Again 10 months into his second term, the cabinet has not been formed and may not be formed at all for obvious reasons. Even, when his Commissioners were in office, it was obvious to the whole state that he did not listen to their suggestions. He governs the state as a sole administrator," the PDP averred.

It then advised Aregbesola to call a stakeholders meeting that will involve all parties where issues affecting the state can be discussed and solutions proffered to them.