A new book, Ogbeni: The Osun Renaissance Years is due to be released on May 25. Authored by a prominent Nigerian columnist Olakunle Abimbola, the book chronicles the administration of the former Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and the ideological inclinations that directed his approach to governance. Abimbola has written under his weekly column “Republican Ripples” in The Nation Newspapers since 2007.
The author of the 466-paged book calls it “An African Guide to Grassroots Politics and Development. Published by Safari Books, the book is a twopart publication Part One being Oranmiyan and Part Two called Renaissance. “Since Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his Action Group (AG) government of the Western Region (1952-1959), no government, federal of state, has done what Governor Rauf Aregbesola did, during his eight-year tenure in Osun, South-West Nigeria.
IT was a total and comprehensive development, across different Osun demographics,” the book says Under Part One of the book, the reader is bound to read Chapters 1-6 which are titled: Balogun Musulumi of Ijesaland, Progressive Collapse, 2003, Gloom and Doom, Oranmiywan, From FoRA PFG and The Mandate and the Limbo.
Under Part Two of the book, There are Chapters 7-15 and these are: Rebirth and Rebrand, Flagship: OYES, Race Against Time: Infrastructure, O’School and Opon Imo, Special Needs: Agba Osun, Tourism and Security, Hafsa: The Salary Crisis, Debt Financing, Media Hostility.
