Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State on Thursday insisted that he has not violated any aspect of the Nigerian constitution with the adoption of the State of Osun as the name of the state.
Aregbesola said the recent criticisms by the Peoples Democratic Party over the adoption as against Osun State, linking the adoption and the promotion of the state’s anthem and flag to a plot to secede, as indication of the acute ignorance among the opposition elements.
Speaking before the Association of Retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries who began their Annual General Meeting in Osogbo on Thursday, the governor asked several times if it was wrong to follow the culture of advanced democracies and federal structures in the world.
He wondered why those criticising the decision of his administration had not done the necessary findings to see how wrong they have been in their criticisms.
He said: “Is it a crime to do what is right? In all other Federal Republics of the world, states are not called the way we call them. Where do we get our own? I do not think it is wrong to do what is right. We have not in any way violated the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“What is the difference between the State of Osun and Osun State? I wonder why people will not understand simple things because of politics.”
Reminding Nigerians of the position of the constitution regarding the states, he said: “What does the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria say about the name of a state? The constitution says Nigeria will have 36 states. And the states are Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom and so on. There is no “state” before and there is no “state” after. So, if we choose to do what is right by calling it the way other Republics call their states, I think we are not wrong.”
Aregbesola said states in the United States, Brazil, Mexico, and others don’t carry “state” after them listing the “State of California, “State of Florida” and others as instances of how states are called in older federal structures.
The governor, who also used the opportunity to disabuse the minds of the former civil servants over alleged plans to Islamise Osun State, said it baffled him that his accusers were so much in a hurry to scandalise him that they could not wait to re-examine the Yoruba cosmogony, which had made people of different faiths to co-habit without any hindrances.
“It is not possible for any Yoruba person to go into serious acrimony on the issue of faith because our culture, our ways of life are against it,” Aregbesola noted, adding that there are enough principles in Yoruba culture that confirm that.
At the event were the first female Head of Service in the old Western Region, Princess Tejumade Alakija; former Military Administrator of Osun State, General Leo Ajiborisha; former Head of Service in Osun State, Chief Moses Aboaba; and other retired permanent secretaries and Heads of Service.