July 28, 2014
Olufamous-One of the performing governors in Nigeria who sure knows how to articulate his projects and policies that have impacted positively on the lives of the people is Governor Rauf Aregbesola. So, it takes a lot of guts for any one to come out for a debate with him. Governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore and Alhaji Fatai Akinbad, both stayed away on Saturday from a radio debate organised for them and Governor Aregbesola. The debate which was organised by a United States of America-based International Republican Institute was billed to be broadcast live on Osun State Broadcasting Corporation Osogbo on Saturday. Aregbesola, who was said to have gone to Mecca for the lesser hajj was said to have cut short his trip and returned to honour the debate but his co-debaters failed to show up. Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy of the All Progressives Congress in the state, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, in a statement said Omisore ran away from the debate.
The statement read, “The PDP’s gubernatorial candidate in the August 9 election in Osun, Iyiola Omisore, squandered a golden opportunity to confront the incumbent governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, in a public radio debate when he ran away from participating…
“The debate was sponsored by the American-based International Republican Institute and put together by the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation for a live transmission in Osogbo.
“Osun citizens had waited with bated breath to hear Omisore articulate his accusations against the governor on such issues as the debt profile of the state, the school reform programme and the vexed issue of capital flight.
“But it turned out to be almost an interview and not a debate because Omisore ran away. “However, Aregbesola advanced his arguments virtually without challenge that the best thing to have happened in Osun since it was created are his programmes which the PDP wants to destroy.”
Omisore had earlier said that he was ready for a debate with Aregbesola. So, what held him back again?
