The Osun State governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola and his predecessor in office, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, now the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are set to slug it out with each other over the soul of the UNESCO centre sited in Osogbo, the state capital where Oyinlola was claimed to be the life Chairman of the Governing Board of the Centre. In this piece, SEFIU AYANBIMPE takes a look at the present arguments of both parties on the centre.
After an intense battle between the duo, the Osun State governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola and his predecessor in office, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, for three and half years in the court of law over the 2007 governorship election to reclaim his (Aregbesola) mandate, it seems the duo are also set out for another war for the soul of the Centre for the Black Culture and International Understanding (CBCIU), a body affiliated with the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
LEADERSHIP gathered that Prince Oyinlola now the National Secretary of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) claimed to be the life Chairman of the Board of the centre as a result of his role to facilitate the centre to be sited in Osogbo, the state capital.
But LEADERSHIP also gathered that Oyinlola’s declaration did not go down well with the present administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola with the argument that how can a person use state resources (both human and material) to acquire an edifice with an approval of international standard and suddenly turn it into private property. Aregbesola is not pleased with this idea which he sees as selfish and unproductive.
It was also learnt that twelve months (12) after the present administration came into office, the state government gave an indication to repeal the Osun state law that set up the centre which compelled it to drag the management of the centre before the State House of Assembly of which twenty six members comprise of only the ruling party extraction to clear the air on the insinuation that the centre was owned by Oyinlola but later found that he was the life Chairman of the board of the centre.
Information revealed that the Oyinlola administration played a major role in the establishment of the centre to ensure the delivery of the project in accordance with the standards stipulated by UNESCO in 2009, adding that the former governor’s special interest in the promotion of Art and Culture made the administration of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007 to support Oyinlola to become the life Chairman of the Governing Board of the centre in his personal meritorious capacity whenever he delivered the centre to parent organization (UNESCO) which he followed since 2009.
It would be recalled that before the centre, the Osun-Osogbo groove was listed as a world Heritage site by UNESCO at its meeting in Durban, South Africa in 2005 where information claimed that Oyinlola played an important role for the success of the recognition.
According to LEADERSHIP’s source, the centre, among others has the objective of changing prejudices and dialogues among cultures and civilization and religions as well as the promotion of world peace and international understanding.
Some quarters in the state have been nursing fear over what will be the consequence of the state government interference in the activities of the centre because? the two legal documents of the centre’s establishment were signed between the Federal Government and UNESCO which affirmed the autonomy of the Centre and its subsequent registration with the Corporate affairs Commission (CAC) as a non-governmental? organization(NGO) legally empowered to draw grants, aid as well as financial and technical assistance ,even from the outside world.
A source close to LEADERSHIP from the Federal Government, particularly, its Ministry of Culture and Tourism, revealed that the state government merely promoted the establishment of the centre by providing the physical facilities at the centre, as it was one of the categorical expectations to UNESCO that no government would interfere in the running of CBCIU.
It added that if the State government claims to have financed the construction of the physical structures, then it has definitely closed its eyes on the huge investments of the Federal Government in the shaping of the centre.
LEADERSHIP recalls that the Nobel Laurel and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Professor Wole Soyinka, opposed the establishment of the centre in 2008 as a result of the privacy nature of the centre and illegal affinity with the Obasanjo Private Library, disagreeing on the grounds that the centre should not be allowed to be in the hands of the private sector as the projects was collaboration of UNESCO, the Federal and Osun State government.
Professor Soyinka also argued that the centre was established by the act of Osun State law now State of Osun Law as amended by State House of Assembly in 2012, upon the arguments on the subject matter, the crisis still reared its ugly head penultimate week as the State Governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola appointed Professor Soyinka as the Chairman of the Governing Board of the Centre which brought to an end and terminated the life Chairmanship of Oyinlola.
The state government had before now sought for the consent of the state House of Assembly to change the modus operandi of the centre and also change the membership of its board of trustees and the Assembly amended the law establishing the centre, empowering any sitting governor in the state to appoint the chairman and other directors in the governing board of the centre.
The Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding 2012 Amendment Bill scaled through the third reading in the House in a motion moved by the Leader of the House, Honourable Timothy Owoeye and seconded by Honourable Leke Ogunsola. The House later unanimously passed the bill in a voice vote.
Deputy Speaker, Honourable Akintunde Adegboye, who presided over the sitting, commended the members for their thorough examination of the bill before its final passage and said the amended bill will form the part of the 2008 principal law establishing the centre after the state governor’s assent.
The newly-amended bill passed into law empowered the sitting governor in the state to be or appoint the chairman for the centre and completely expunge the representatives of the Obasanjo Presidential Library.
According to the law before the amendment, Oyinlola was the chairman of the governing board of the centre, while two members from the Obasanjo Presidential Library were automatic board members.
A statement by the Director, Bureau of Communications and Strategy in the Office of the Governor, Mr Semiu Okanlawon, stated that the new board will have concurrent responsibility to develop the Yoruba World Heritage Centre to be called New Ife in Ile-Ife, Osun state.
The board, according to the law, will also comprise of two representatives of the academia, four representatives of Arts and Culture, a representative of the UNESCO and Nigeria’s Permanent.
Delegate to the UNESCO.
Soyinka’s choice as the chairman of the Board, according to the statement, was informed by his global reach as a culture icon and promoter.
But the development did not go down well with Oyinlola who reportedly threatened to challenge the amendment of the laws and also the change in the centre Board of Governor.
Oyinlola declared the action of the state government as illegal, ultra vires, null, void and of no effect whatsoever, disclosing this through a letter forwarded to President Goodluck Jonathan on the matter as the life Chairman of the organization.
The former governor accused the state government of wilful disrespect for international conventions and regulations thereby jeopardizing the continued existence of CBCIU whose establishment was promoted by the Federal Government of Nigeria under a cooperative arrangement with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
He stressed that the Osun State Government under his leadership supported the bold step as part of effort and commitment to develop the tourism and culture sub-sector of the economy of the state, adding that it is imperative to inform the president because of the paramount? role being? played by the Federal Government as the promoter of the CBCIU project.
Oyinlola alleged that “The very hostile posture of the Osun State government commenced with the inauguration of Mr. Rauf Aregbesola on November 27, 2010, with his administration maliciously attempting to appropriate CBCIU as one of its organs or appendages by freezing the accounts of CBCIU in November 2010, in contravention of extant regulations and statutes”.
For the avoidance of doubt, he insisted that CBCIU is a non-profit, non-Governmental Organization registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission.
According to him, one of the categorical declarations of UNESCO before granting Nigeria (not Osun State Government) the hosting rights was that CBCIU would be free from governmental control and interference.
He explained further that the tripartite agreement signed for the establishment of CBCIU states in clear and unmistakable terms that CBCIU is an integral element of the national master plan for the safeguarding of tangible and intangible cultural heritage and was established in accordance with the Guidelines on the creation of institutes and centres under the auspices of UNESCO (category 11), as promulgated by the General Conference at its 33rd session.
“All these, including the aforementioned decision of our administration to promote tourism and culture in the state formed the basis of the decision of the then Osun State government headed by my humble-self to fully support the project in collaboration with the Federal Government of Nigeria. As requested by UNESCO, we originated and passed an enabling law, simply and only to give a legal backing to the expenditure of our administration on the project.
“For the purpose of emphasis, the agreements signed state clearly that ‘The Government of Osun State shall provide parcels of land on which the project would be sited free of charge and all encumbrances. It is for this reason that the land on which structures of CBCIU were constructed were donated free of charge by Osun State government headed by me to UNESCO, whose Director-General commissioned the project for use in January, 2009”.
Oyinlola insisted that members of the Board of Trustees of CBCIU were chosen in accordance with stipulated Guidelines which provide that CBCIU shall have an independent Board of Trustees assuring the respectability of the Centre.
“My appointment as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of CBCIU was made in my personal meritorious capacity and this was? conveyed to me through the then Honourable? Minister of Culture and Tourism, acting on the instructions of the then President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo”, he noted.
“It is evident that Osun State Government is out, purposely to illegally appropriate CBCIU as its property against the dictates of local regulations and provisions of international treaties. Apart from this sour development and disregard for decorum and orderliness, the actions of the state government, if not carefully checked, could create a breach of the peace as their agents and servants have continued to occupy office spaces illegally within CBCIU”, Oyinlola submitted.
Justifying Soyinka’s appointment, Okanlawon, who dismissed the complaints of the former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, described the protest as hogwash, saying that Oyinlola’s claim that the CBCIU does not belong to Osun is the most despicable comment to have emanated from the former governor.
Okanlawon wondered how the centre has been funded since its establishment, pointing out that Oyinlola delivered a speech on January 7, 2009 during the commissioning ceremony where he stated that his administration provided $680,000 for the procurement of archival materials.
The statement added, “It must be stated here that for Oyinlola to have personalized the centre by making himself the chairman either in or out of office through the law setting it up was another height of impunity for which his administration was notorious.
“This was a major odium that was yanked off the law passed under Oyinlola through an amendment signed by Governor Rauf Aregbesola in July this year, now called ‘State of Osun Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (Amendment) Law 2012’”.
Also speaking in line with Oyinlola, the former Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly during Oyinlola when the law was passed, Barrister Adejare Bello has advised the governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola not to allow himself to be misled into taking hasty and ill-conceived actions that could put his name on the negative pages of the history by attempting to tamper with the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (CBCIU), established in Osogbo, as a UNESCO affiliated institution on Culture.
The former Speaker, who gave the advice in a statement made available to newsmen in Osogbo, stated that it sounded most incredible that the Osun State House of Assembly could embark on what he called a “ridiculous” action in spite of available records in the state Legislature which reveal that UNESCO consultants, who visited Osun State twice to conduct feasibility studies on the Centre, warned of dire consequences should government attempt to control CBCIU.
According to him, the submission of Management expert, Peter F. Drucker that, “There is nothing as useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all, applies to steps taken on the Centre by the Osun State government as the documents forwarded to the House of Assembly in year 2008 indicated that ‘It was one of the categorical expectations of UNESCO that no Government would interfere in the running of CBCIU and that the donated structures at the Centre would be in place before its commissioning. More importantly, international conventions recognize CBCIU as a cultural property which must not be violated”.
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