By Gbenga Olarinoye

Venue of the controversial Osun Economic and Education Summit which the organisers, Osun Stakeholders, OS, said was to discuss the affairs of the state was yesterday forced to change as a result of heavy presence of security agents.

The summit, which has been subject of bickering between the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was billed to hold in Osogbo but was later forced to move to Ile Ife.

The move to Ile-Ife gave some credence to APC’s position that the defeated PDP governorship candidate, in the August 2014 polls, Iyiola Omisore, was behind the move.

Omisore is from the ancestral city of Ile-Ife.

Some delegates including newsmen who went to the original venue of the event in Osogbo were politely turned back by security agents who cordoned off the place.

On inquiry, one of the policemen who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the organizers were not granted permit to hold the summit.

Why we shifted the venue — Osun Stakeholders

The principal convener of the summit, Mr Niyi Owolade said the initial venue for the summit was shifted for fear of attack by hoodlums.

In his welcome address at the new venue in Ile-Ife, Owolade alleged that the ‘State Boys’ planned to attack the participants.

The former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in the state disclosed that the summit was planned to hold in Osogbo before the state Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Marafa, informed him on Wednesday night, of an intelligent report that some thugs were planning to attack the summit in Osogbo.

His words: “We wrote the police informing them of the summit, although there is no law saying you must get a permit to hold an in-house summit since its not a procession. We also requested for security cover for prominent people attending the summit.

“But I was shocked when the CP called and said there was an intelligent report that some people were planning to attack people at the venue of the summit. There were some infiltration, some ‘state boys’ already at the original venue looking for Comrade Yinka Odumakin.

“The next thing we heard is that we needed to see the Acting Security Adviser to Aregbesola before we could hold the summit in Osogbo and we had no choice than to proceed to Ile-Ife. We are sorry for the sudden shift and for the inconvenience it would have caused you (participants),”, Owolade added.

He argued that the summit was in the best interest of Osun State organised to save the state from the current challenges facing it.
Although the group expected about 250 delegates to attend the summit, the number of participants at the venue was below expectation.

The communiqué issued at the end of the summit, demanded restructuring of the country’s federalism to enable states explore mineral deposits in their domain for development.

The summit subsequently called on graft agencies to scrutinize Osun State government finances, saying from 2011 to 2014, the government had declared that it got N103bn while from its findings, about N183bn accrued to the state during the period.

Aregbesola should pay our compensation – Osun landlords

Meantime, residents of Osogbo whose buildings were demolished for the urban renewal programme of the state government have appealed to Governor Rauf Aregbesola to urgently pay their compensations running to  about N2billion.

The affected people are mostly landlords from Mosalasi Gaji, Igbona, Ajegunle and Ayetoro areas of the state capital.

The Chairman of the association, Moshood Oladejo who addressed newsmen in Osogbo on the matter stated that they have lost 10 of their members during the struggle to have their compensation paid.

Oladejo said the over 200 demolished houses were the last hope for many of them as most of the owners were pensioners and very old, adding that they relied on the payment from the rented apartments of their buildings for survival.