Adeleke fires back at Oyebamiji, cites impressive health sector record

Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke has dismissed comments attributed to the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate for the 2026 election, Hon. Bola Oyebamiji, on the state of healthcare in Osun, describing them as “baseless disinformation” that further exposes the opposition candidate’s disconnect from reality.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, the governor berated Oyebamiji for what he described as ignorance of the sweeping reforms and investments undertaken by the present administration in the health sector.

“It is as if the opposition candidate is living in another world. Osun today, from 2024, ranks number one across the South-West in the provision of primary healthcare. When the Ikire man was in government, Osun was nowhere near the top 10,” Adeleke said.

According to the statement, more than 200 primary healthcare centres have been renovated under the Adeleke administration, with another phase of renovation currently underway. The governor further accused Oyebamiji of being part of a committee under the previous APC government that allegedly mismanaged a $20 million World Bank grant meant for the renovation of primary healthcare centres.

“Osun will not return to the days of insensitive leadership,” the statement added.

Adeleke said his administration has upgraded hospitals with modern medical equipment and facilities to improve service delivery. He listed achievements to include the procurement of modern operating materials for wards and theatres; purchase of digital medical devices such as sphygmomanometers, pulse oximeters, thermometers and CPAP machines (VAYU models); acquisition of an electrophoresis (genotype) machine, a digital X-ray printer and automated diagnostic devices to boost diagnostic capacity.

Other interventions, he said, include the establishment and commencement of renal dialysis services through a public–private partnership; procurement of air conditioners for clinical units and patient care areas through donor support; establishment of a new theatre pharmacy for immediate access to essential drugs and consumables; provision of a mini-bus for hospital operations; and an ongoing project for a 10-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

“As a humane government, our Imole medical outreaches have benefited close to 100,000 residents,” the governor said. “Indigent residents requiring surgeries were treated on three occasions across the nine federal constituencies, with more planned for the 2026 session. Our government has also approved the renovation of two general hospitals, with additional upgrades to follow.”

Adeleke contrasted his administration’s record on workers’ welfare with that of the previous APC government, under which he said medical associations and public hospital staff were “financially strangulated and treated as sub-humans”.

“Under my watch, we restored the dignity of medical personnel. We approved and implemented the Medical Residency Training Fund at the Osun State Teaching Hospital, making it the first state-owned teaching hospital in Nigeria to do so,” he said.

He also listed the approval and implementation of new hazard and accoutrement allowances, the new minimum wage, a 50 per cent tax waiver on call duty and shift allowances, one-for-one replacement of doctors, and the renovation of all doctors’ call rooms.

The governor added that his administration regularised previously unconfirmed staff employed in 2012 and 2013, conducted and implemented promotion exercises for nurses and other categories of staff, approved improved allowances for contract staff and visiting consultants, enhanced wages for casual workers, and ensured payment of outstanding debts to pharmaceutical suppliers to restore essential supplies.

Describing these as highlights of his administration’s achievements, Adeleke said Oyebamiji should be ashamed of the record of a government in which he was a key actor. He noted that Osun’s health sector has become a model, citing the state’s victory in the Primary Health Care Challenge in both 2024 and 2025.

The governor further alleged that Oyebamiji is among those working to financially strangulate the state, questioning how someone “working day and night to stop Osun from developing” could still make what he termed “fake promises” before medical professionals who, he said, are benefiting immensely from the present administration.