Op: Osun2026: Oyebamiji May Not be the Right Choice
“I may not have the answer for who to vote for, but I know who not to vote for, and I think Oyebamiji of the APC might be an electoral blunder.”
It’s another electioneering period in Osun state, a time the government gets even closer to the people and voters in the state suddenly become actively involved, but with political orientation that may not yield good governance. In the previous election I witnessed what I would describe as transactional election-votes were bought in public, and we had law enforcers supervising vote for cash. It’s high time election became free and fair.
Election in Osun this year took a different turn. The way nobody could have guess that Adeleke would end up in Accord party, remains the exact way the shock went down spines of political conscious Nigerians, focused on the Osun2026 gubernatorial election when Mr. Oyebamiji, a former Commissioner of Finance was declared as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
While Adeleke may not get all the ‘hypes,’ praises as an incumbent governor for not being innovative, we should remember Oyebamiji co-introduce modulated salary, code-named Half-Salary just like we have Adams Smith to thank for inventing Economics. Mr. Wale Bolorunduro was the Commissioner of Finance when the modulated salary was implemented. Half-salary implied you work the whole month, and you only get half of your wages. It’s a renumeration model co-propounded by Mr. Oyebamiji, who at the time was the CEO of Omoluabi Holdings, a massive parastatal that was the heartbeat of the state’s finance. I’m not only from Osun state, but I have also lived in Osun longer than I have lived elsewhere.
I may not have the answer of who to vote for, but I know who the right choice may not be, and I strongly believe Oyebamiji is one of them. I can count on two hands the number of people who lost their parents, homes, sanity to half-salary and mismanagement of funds by the government Oyebamiji was part of. Going by available data from different sources, Oyebamiji will not be able to lead the state in the right direction.
Osun state has gambled enough with leadership. This is a good time to reposition the state to offer her people dividends of governance.
Oluwaseyi Oyetunbi
