The Osun Stakeholders Summit was held in Ile-Ife, Osun State, yesterday with participants calling for true federalism.
The conveners had scheduled to hold the summit at the Leisure Spring Hotel, Osogbo, the state capital, but relocated to an event centre in Ile-Ife because of an alleged police siege.
All Progressives Congress (APC) described the summit as a non-event.
Its spokesperson Kunle Oyatomi, said: “Their claim that the police stopped them from holding the event in Osogbo is ridiculous. They came to Leisure Spring Hotel, the venue of the summit, where they saw police security and they fled to their hideout in Ile Ife.
“If their intentions were good, why did they run away from the police? If their intentions were good, why did the police presence scare them? Did the police officially prohibit the summit? The answer is no. The police are to provide security for the summit. Those guys should not be taken seriously.
“We will look at what they want to offer as solution to the financial and education ‘problems’ in the state before we respond fully.”
The summit was attended by the former Head of Service and governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Elder Segun Akinwusi, spokesperson for the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice Niyi Owolade, a professor of Sociology, Tunde Lawuyi, who was the chairman and a representative of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade.
One of the active organisers of the summit, the former board chairman of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Dr. Muyiwa Oladimeji, was absent.
In the communiqué signed by Odumakin and Owolade, the summit said the federating states should not be begging for bailout from the Federal Government but should rather be allowed to tap abundant resources they have and use them to develop.
The summit urged the anti-graft bodies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to investigate the alleged financial recklessness of Governor Rauf Aregbesola.
Delivering his paper, Akinwusi alleged that the Aregbesola administration was manipulating the state’s salary figures.
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