Osun Deserves Governance, Not Puff-Puff Politics By Oluwatosin Babatunde

Osun Deserves Governance, Not Puff-Puff Politics

By Oluwatosin Babatunde

When governance is reduced to roadside theatrics, it is the people that suffer. The recent viral story of Governor Ademola Adeleke buying puff-puff worth ₦50,000 and instantly employing the seller as a Government House chef has been hailed by his media aides as a mark of generosity. But in truth, it exposes everything wrong with the unserious brand of leadership currently paraded in Osun State.

Let us ask a simple question: is this how employment is to be dispensed in Osun State from the windows of a campaign bus, in front of a jubilant crowd, and without any due process? If this is governance, then what becomes of thousands of young graduates, artisans, and professionals who have diligently applied for jobs, written applications, and waited endlessly for opportunities that never come? Are they simply unlucky because they did not happen to be hawking puff-puff on the governor’s campaign route?

This act, coated as kindness, is nothing but political showmanship. It is governance turned into a Nollywood spectacle cash spraying here, roadside recruitments there while the serious business of infrastructure, healthcare, and economic planning is abandoned. Osun does not need a Father Christmas who dishes out favors to a lucky few; Osun needs a leader who builds systems that benefit the many.

Real compassion is not random roadside gestures. Real compassion is employing teachers to strengthen our schools, employing doctors and nurses to save lives in our overstretched hospitals, and filling the long-existing vacancies in the civil service so that the machinery of government can serve the people effectively.

Most importantly, compassion must extend to our rural communities. The lifeblood of Osun is agriculture, yet our farmers remain trapped by impassable rural roads, lack of irrigation, poor storage facilities, and absence of support services. Instead of playing to the gallery with puff-puff drama, the governor should be investing in rural infrastructure that would empower farmers, reduce post-harvest losses, and guarantee food sufficiency for the state. A bag of rice or beans from Osun farmlands will feed more mouths than roadside handouts ever will.

By turning a puff-puff vendor into a government chef on the spot, the governor has not only mocked due process but also ignored the wider cries of Osun people. For every lucky hawker elevated by chance, there are tens of thousands of youths languishing in unemployment, and millions of rural dwellers who only ask for good roads to bring their farm produce to market.

The people of Osun must be careful not to be distracted by puff-puff politics. The state cannot be run on random acts of charity. Osun deserves vision, structure, and sincerity not roadside lotteries of fortune.

Governor Adeleke must be told clearly: leadership is not a concert, governance is not a reality show, and Osun people are not spectators in a comedy skit. What we need is serious governance employment for teachers, doctors, and civil servants, rural infrastructure to drive food sufficiency, real industrial development, and sustainable policies that lift the entire state not puff-puff headlines.