AS AREGBESOLA BOWS OUT

Abiodun Komolafe pays tribute to the out-going Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola

With few days to the end of Rauf Aregbesola’s tenure as governor of Osun, it is settled that most of his outstanding achievements for which history will remain grateful to this workaholic have been well-documented. From infrastructure, health and agriculture, to human capital development, even to some other areas which may be considered as intangibles, the state has scored many firsts and I have no doubt in my mind that posterity will be kind to the governor.

Whatever may be its definition, depiction or affiliation, leadership is a product of the solution to historically-defined problems. The pragmatic cast with which Aregbesola entered Osun and the magnitude of his popularity will for a long time be with an enduring appreciation. The closeness of his administration to the people and the reputation his tenure has created for the state, even in the face of the national economic mess, accompanied by pointless spleen-venting sentiments and muscle flexing emotions by ‘hypocritical praise singers’ who, to borrow the words of Matthew Kukah, “believe in nothing but their own voices”, will for years leave Nigerians with no better teacher than history.

As Aregbesola’s government takes its leave of ‘Bola Ige House’, how is this “seemingly ordinary man with the proven extraordinary abilities” likely to be remembered? Give it to the outgoing governor: he is by every standard a simple man: open, consummate and practical. He is neither extravagant nor flippant. Rather, he is as controversial as he is enigmatic.