TheCable

Rauf Aregbesola, governor of Osun state, says erring military officers should be sanctioned.

Reacting to the rumours of military coup in the country, Aregbesola asked federal lawmakes to pass a resolution commending Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, for his “thorough professionalism and belief in the current democracy”.

He made the call when the Osun state house of assembly honoured him as a “life member”, as part of activities marking his 60th birthday.

“I have also made the strident call for a political system and practice that is best suited for our clime, which will bring inclusion and amount to real political empowerment for all the people,” he said.

“I have after our revered leaders, Obafemi Awolowo, Bola Ige, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and others, all convinced federalist, argued that for a plural society like ours, true federal practice is a minimum condition of statehood.

“We are so diverse as a people that anything short of true federalism is an invitation to chaos.”

Najeem Folasayo Salam , speaker of the house, said Aregbesola was honoured due to his “unprecedented contributions to the development of the state”.

Salam, who described the governor as “a leader par excellence” said the /honour was the assembly’s resolve to reward the governor for his good works “not only to the people of Osun but Nigeria as a whole.”

The speaker also faulted the reports that the assembly “has been incapacitated and turned to a rubber stamp of the executive”.

“On no account does the house act outside the constitutional frameworks of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria since assumption of the current dispensation,” he said.