A State in Turmoil: Adeleke’s Leadership Failure Cripples Local Government, Students, and Job Seekers by Prof. Olaoye Abegunde Oladipupo, Department of Rural Development & Political Science, Ekiti State University, Ado – Ekiti. Nigeria
The abdication of responsibility by the Osun State Government under the inept leadership of Governor Ademola Jackson Adeleke has plunged the state into administrative paralysis, inflicting untold hardship on its citizens. The systemic dysfunction of local government administration has not only stifled essential services but has also crippled the aspirations of thousands of students, engaged couples, and job seekers who depend on duly signed and authenticated local government documents to progress in their respective endeavours.
Empirical data underscores the gravity of this crisis, showing between January 4th and today, approximately 72 tertiary institutions, including monotechnics, colleges of education, polytechnics, and universities, resumed new academic sessions. As corroborated by statistics from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), over 78,000 indigenes of Osun State sought admission into these institutions. However, 65% of first-year students are required to return to their respective local government secretariats to obtain state/local government identification certificates or secure the necessary endorsements from their council chairmen on crucial admission registry-forms documents.
Alarmingly, despite their persistent visits daily by their parents and guardians, these students have been met with disappointment and governmental neglect. The question remains, how long will Governor Adeleke continue to toy with the futures of these young scholars and future leaders just because he asked NULGE to staff off work at the local government level?
The administrative stagnation is not confined to education alone. It has permeated into social and civil institutions, further exacerbating public frustration. Agnes Abiodun Alabi and Adeolu Adebari, having fulfilled all financial obligations to Irewole local government, remain unable to solemnize their union at the multipurpose hall. The refusal of the church to conduct their wedding without a government approved marriage certificate underscores the severity of this crisis.
They are not alone, over 110 families are currently trapped in a bureaucratic limbo due to the insubordination of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) led state government, which flagrantly disregards the judgment of the Court of Appeal reinstating local government chairmen of APC extraction.
Beyond the local level, the ongoing nationwide recruitment into various federal agencies ranging from the Federal Civil Service, the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Immigration Service, and the Nigerian Customs Service to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigerian Navy, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Air Force, and other strategic security agencies has further exposed the incompetence of Adeleke’s administration.
The inability of Osun State applicants to obtain necessary documentation from their local government authorities has effectively shut the door on their employment opportunities, subjecting them to a fate of avoidable joblessness. This is not just negligence, it is an act of systemic sabotage, a direct assault on the socio-economic advancement of Osun’s youth, and a reprehensible betrayal of the social contract between the Ademola Adeleke government and her people. This is sad. This is barbaric. This is evil. This is demonic. Once again, Osun states NULGE Chairman, Dr. Nathaniel Kehinde Ogungbangbe and NLC State Chairman, Dr. Christopher Arapasopo should consider the thousands of lives affected by their political actions and consequences.
The onus now falls on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abass, to intervene decisively now. Governor Adeleke must be compelled to comply with the judgment of the Court of Appeal, delivered on February 10th, which mandates the restoration of functional local government administration. The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has provided clear legal counsel and judicial interpretation on this matter, alongside the IGP yet Adeleke and his government continue to defy the judiciary with impunity.
Local government administration in Osun State is no longer on life support. It is entirely dead and ferried into the mortuary as we speak. It has been brutally strangled to death under Adeleke’s watch. This blatant subversion of governance is nothing short of political banditry worse than Sir Sim Fubara’s sins. The federal government must act swiftly to resurrect the third tier of government in Osun and avert the looming collapse of social order. To ignore this plea is to endorse lawlessness and embolden a rogue administration that has chosen political expediency over constitutional duty.
The people of Osun State deserve better than what Adeleke is offering. The federal government must, as a matter of necessity, act now.
