‎As the off-season gubernatorial election in Osun State is just five days away, an Islamic human rights body, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has accused Governor Ademola Adeleke of nepotism.
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‎MURIC insists that the Governor pursued a policy of edenisation whereby people of his town, Ede, allegedly received undue favours. The group therefore called on people of other towns in Osun to reward the governor by rejecting him at the polls on Saturday, 15th August, 2026.
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‎The statement was signed by Professor Ishaq Akintola, Executive Director of MURIC.
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‎"We are in possession of a video clip in which the Governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, is accused of favouring members of his family as well as the people of Ede, his hometown.
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‎"According to the clip, only Ede indigenes were promoted in the civil service since Adeleke became governor. That is not all. The video clip alleged that the chief of staff, four commissioners, the chairman of the Local Government Service Commission, the chairman of 'O' Ambulance, the chairman of 'O'
‎His are all indigenes of Ede.
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‎"Not only that, the video clip went on to allege that the rector of Osun State Polytechnic, the rector of Esa-Oke Polytechnic, the Executive Secretary of Osun State SUBEB, about seventeen (17) special advisers, about 162 senior special advisers and nine (9) permanent secretaries are all from the same town, Ede.
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‎"We are utterly flabbergasted by these revelations. As a civil society group, we are obliged to ask the good people of Osun State to verify the claims made in the video clip so as to know what to do if it is true.
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‎"People of Osun State are the taxpayers. They are also the voters. They have the right to know how the state is run. Should the claims be confirmed, they must make an important choice on Saturday when they go to the polls. They must choose between remaining slaves of one family ad infinitum, thereby serving only one town or setting themselves free by rejecting Adeleke at the polls. This can be done with one stroke of the pen.
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‎"For microscopic clarity, we assert that MURIC has nothing against the good people of Ede. We have members in that ancient city. We have fans all over the place. We are fully on the ground in Owode, Oke Gada, Country Home and Adeleke University campus (where Muslim students are forced to come to church) as well as the university neighbourhood, all in Ede town. Therefore, we are not attacking Ede town per se or the indigenes.
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‎"Nay, this is about a leader who failed to realise that he is for all. No governor of any state has the right to concentrate on his own town alone. Minister Oyetola did not concentrate on Iragbiji when he was governor of Osun. Aregbesola did not focus the paraphernalia of governance on Ilesha alone. Oyinlola spread the dividends of democracy across board beyond Okuku. Why must Governor Adeleke give all the milk and honey in Osun to his hometown alone?
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‎"It is ethnic jingoism. It is myopic and parochial. It is bad governance. It is a betrayal of trust. Adeleke's oath of office was to serve the people of Osun, not one town but he was fixated on Ede throughout his tenure. Payday is here. Adeleke cannot win this election even if all the sands and pebbles of Ede rise from the ground to cast their votes for him on election day.
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‎"Edenisation resulted in the abandonment of other towns. It led to the scarcity of state infrastructure in many other cities. There must be consequences for bad governance. Adeleke must pay for making other towns suffer.
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‎"Oshogbo felt little or no presence of the state government despite being the capital. Compared to the humongous patronage enjoyed by indigenes of Ede under Adeleke's edenisation policy, how many indigenes of Oshogbo got appointments during Adeleke's tenure? How many Ife indigenes secured employment? How many from Ilesha, Ikire, Apomu, etc?
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‎"Oshogbo in its entirety must therefore reject Adeleke on Saturday. The good people of Ife, Ilesha, Ejigbo, etc must turn their backs on the author of edenisation.
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‎"Governor Adeleke has one dogma: it is called 'winner takes all'. He has this proclivity for arrogating too much to his side and too little to others. He did it to the Muslims of Osun who got only 7 commissioners even as the state's majority religious group.
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‎"He has done it now to the people of Osun by adopting edenisation as a policy because he is from Ede. That is gymnastic ethnicity. Adeleke finds it difficult to correct this defect. He believes that this fundamental flaw can be masked with his 'ajobiewe' skill. He has totally forgotten that a leader should be fair to all and that balancing is required in governance.
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‎"You can deceive some of the people with skyscraper caps, you can distract the attention of others with dancing skills that tend to wake Michael Jackson from the grave, but you cannot successfully mask your flaws from all the people all of the time.
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‎Come Saturday, 15th August, 2026, the people of Osun are bidding goodbye to ethnic chauvinism. The come has come to become. The game is up.

ASA