There were reports in some sections of the media that on Friday, April 10, 2026, Ogun State government promised to ‘donate’ some public schools to some organizations. In the referred news, the government was said to have decided to “return” some public schools to some organizations but what government is actually contemplating is donation of public schools to cronies of those in government perhaps to share from the proceeds after leaving office or as appreciation for political patronage or support.
In a nutshell, what Ogun government plans to do is not return of public schools but donation or stealing by proxy public schools. This unpatriotic move is not only unconstitutional and against the oath of office sworn to as not to allow personal interests conflict with official duties and public trust but also dubious and fraudulent. Rights and Freedom Advocates (RIFA) hereby use this medium to alert the public of grand plot to rob the state of its esteemed properties through back door.
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, ‘return’ is to give, put, or send something back to somebody or something (in its original form). This means the thing being returned is in the same form as it was when taken from the person. In this circumstance, this was not the case as those public schools have witnessed massive government and non-governmental transformative investment.
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Therefore, what Ogun State plans to do is to rather ‘donate’ or ‘steal by proxy’ Ogun State public schools. According to Same Dictionary cited above, ‘donate’ means to give money, food, clothes, etc(including public schools) to somebody/something especially as a charity while ‘steal’ means to take something from a person (in this case; Ogun people), shop, or place without permission and without intending to return or pay for it. It also means to move quietly/secretly or to take credit/ideas for what belongs to another person. This is exactly the intention of Ogun State Government.
The proxies of government officials who want to rob the Ogun State government of the public schools have ensured heavy investment of state resources on the schools acquired from former owners perhaps as a subterfuge for future stealing through backdoor.
Besides, many alumni consisting of people of different faiths have invested heavily in those schools ditto to some non-governmental and international organizations. This is what the backdoor thieves want to rob the State of. In an ideal setting, where a property is to be sold, it has to be joint decision of the owners wherein professional estate valuers consisting of all stakeholders would be engaged to value the properties to determine its current realizable value for new buyers to pay commensurate value.
The fact that someone is entrusted with state resources is not a licence to start stealing or donating common wealth of the people to cronies.
It should be noted that when some of the public schools were acquired from their former owners by the government, their defunct owners were compensated. Is it not therefore pure robbery or daylight stealing that a house owner who has collected consideration for his acquired property in the past would furtively and dubiously surface again to collect what he has been compensated for that the disposed property should be returned to it after the sale and extensive investment by the new owner?
Why is holy robbery and stealing knows no bother again?
If those in government actually want to appreciate their political pontiffs, there is nothing wrong if they share part of the acquired wealth of those political office holders to those people and not to turn public assets not auctioned to items for donation or stealing by any means. If those in government cannot build more schools to accommodate teeming population, they should not deny people of Nigeria access to affordable education just because their children are not in those schools.
Besides, when some of the former owners of those public schools went through former Governor Daniel to steal Ogun public schools, many students of the stolen schools could not afford their school fees while the employed teachers were paid ridiculous amount as salaries as the schools decayed freely until the Rebuilder of Ogun State came on board in 2011 and rescued those schools, students and teachers. If at all, the current administration in Ogun State cannot improve on existing infrastructure in public schools, is destroying the legacy of patriots the next option?
RIFA hereby urge Ogun State government to shield the idea of stealing by backdoor what belongs to the people of Ogun State and taxpayers. The Advocates of justice and fairness also urge Ogun government officials to rather allocate part of their acquired private wealth to placate those cronies who might have been promised something of such. It is not only posterity that would not forgive anyone who swore to uphold fairness in his official dealings but suddenly become agent of official scam, the defenders of common patrimony would also take necessary actions to prevent official robbery through illicit avenues.
Luqman Soliu
President,
Rights and Freedom Advocates