Politics

Insults Won’t Fix Osun Hospitals: AMBO Media Criticize Adeleke Over Failing Health Sector

Published by admin on December 20th, 2025.

Insults Won’t Fix Osun Hospitals: AMBO Media Criticize Adeleke Over Failing Health Sector

The Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji (AMBO) Media Fronts read with amusement the insult-laden reaction of Governor Ademola Adeleke to the remarks of our principal and APC governorship candidate, Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji (AMBO), made on Friday at the investiture of his spouse, Dr Sekinah Bola-Oyebamiji, as President of women doctors in Osun State.

AMBO, in a chat with journalists on the sidelines of the programme, said that if elected Governor of Osun State, his administration would pay adequate attention to health, among other key sectors, noting that the sector under the current administration had become moribund and half-dead.

Since that Friday, officials of the state government have been falling over themselves to insult the former Commissioner for Finance in the state.

For the avoidance of doubt, it is important to state that the description of Osun’s health sector as moribund is not the making of Oyebamiji; rather, it is a statement of fact supported by reports from industry experts.

In a report published by CheckMyPHC.org, which has since been widely circulated by other news media, a crucial workforce gap in the primary health centres in the state is highlighted. It says 73% of PHCs lack enough staff to function; majority of the PHCs (73%) have 0-1 personnel, 44% have 0 staff. This means almost 3 out of every 4 PHCs in Osun State are severely understaffed.

The report also states that primary health centres in Osun State were found to be lacking clean water, working toilets and basic hygiene supplies, making it difficult for them to care for patients properly.

The report further reveals that nurses and patients in many of the PHCs visited were forced to rely on well water or other unhygienic sources for deliveries, sterilisation, and handwashing.

There are over 600 primary health centres in the state. During the administration of ex-Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, no fewer than 300 of these health centres were renovated or constructed and adequately equipped for use. Each of these centres had a borehole with a stand and overhead tank installed, making them complete facilities.

Upon assuming office in November 2022, rather than continuing from where the last administration stopped by extending infrastructure to untouched health centres, the Ademola Adeleke administration chose to play uncharitable politics with the health of the people. Not only were some health workers employed by the APC government sacked, the administration also badmouthed the facilities, which representatives of the World Bank—the donor agency for the project—had endorsed as world-class.

The APC government’s contribution to health is eternally commendable. The records are there; therefore, no amount of name-calling can diminish such an outstanding achievement witnessed under the leadership of Oyetola.

In just four years of the Oyetola administration, in which AMBO played a prominent role, a standard 120-bed ward was constructed at the State Specialist Hospital, Asubiaro. In the same hospital, a 30-unit-state-of-the-art doctors’ quarters, now valued at over ₦2 billion, was also constructed. Beyond building structures and health centres across the 332 wards of the state, the administration equipped them with medical consumables and facilities worth billions of naira just as doctors and other health professionals were handsomely rewarded. It is on record that the doctor-friendly AMBO played a crucial role in ensuring the new salary structure for doctors in Osun, as recommended by the Federal Government, was timely implemented in 2019. Osun doctors did not only earn a decent salary, they earned one of the best salaries in the whole of Nigeria.

Several suction machines, DVT compression pumps, ECG machines, X-ray machines, and other equipment still in use in state-owned hospitals today, were procured during the APC era.

Citizens who daily use these 332 focal primary health centres, scattered around the state, the Trauma Centre, New Theatre Complex, Children Ward, Main Laboratory, Blood Bank Building and Surgical Ward at the State Specialist Hospital, Asubiaro as well as the general hospitals in Ejigbo, Ifetedo, etc, heavily renovated by the APC government, are forever grateful to Oyetola and his men, for their prudence and patriotism. These facilities, installed on record time, are evidence and product of the performance-based $20 million world bank grant extended to Osun during the administration of Oyetola to scale up its health sector.

Before boasting of surpassing the Oyetola administration, the Adeleke government must first demonstrate its capacity to replicate the massive facilities at the Asubiaro Specialist Hospital. These facilities were built during a season of anomie and economic recession. Yet, the Adeleke government, operating in a period of relative abundance, is still gasping for breath and unable to match the high standards set by the progressive government.

Despite earning close to ₦1 trillion in revenue in three years, it is disheartening that the Adeleke administration had to remove (read “steal”) federal government equipment from the Mother and Child Hospital at Oke-Oniti, Osogbo, to secure accreditation for courses at the State Teaching Hospital, Osogbo. Why did the state government remove equipment from a federal facility to shore up its infrastructural deficiencies? Why did it not procure its own equipment? This development raises serious concerns about the commitment of the Adeleke administration to the health needs of Osun citizens.

Finally, the AMBO Media Fronts finds it troubling that 18 months after Dr Adekunle Akindele, Special Adviser on Health to Governor Adeleke, publicly acknowledged a shortage of health workers in the state’s hospitals, the government is yet to recruit the required professionals. According to him, “we made our needs assessment when we came in as a government and realised that the primary healthcare centres alone require about 9,000 health workers to function efficiently and effectively, and we had done all that needed to be done to recruit in phases until the minimum wage issue came up.”

About 9,000 health workers needed in Osun, yet the government has not recruited a single worker to replace those sacked out of jealousy and political vendetta?

Rather than expending energy on calling AMBO and APC leaders unprintable names, Governor Ademola Adeleke should use the remainder of his tenure to work for the people of Osun State. His performance in the last 36 months, particularly in the health sector, has been poor and uninspiring.

Signed:

Adebayo Adedeji
Coordinator, AMBO Media Fronts
20 December 2025