The Osun State chapter of All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN, has flayed the Osun State government over what it termed desperate move to impose leadership on the association.
It accused the government of undue interference, adding that such ‘meddlesomeness’ has caused division among its members and also hindered its success, insisting that it would reject imposition of candidate by all possible means.
Chairman of the association, Alhaji Suleiman Araokanmi, stated this at a press conference held at the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, press centre, in Osogbo, the Osun state capital, on Thursday.
“This press conference became necessary in view of the fact that some group of individuals who are not known to the state of Osun AFAN are still parading themselves as state AFAN executives in the state.
“We are warning this government in Osun to stay clear from interfering in the leadership of our association and allow us to decide who pilot our affairs.
“Our focus is to make the state a self sufficient in the area of food production to guarantee food security, and we do not want anything that will distract us from achieving this noble goal.”
Reacting to the allegation, the Supervisor for agriculture in the state, Dr Charles Akinola, said the government does not have anything to gain by imposing candidate on the association.
He, however, accused career officers in the ministry of frustrating the government’s efforts at helping farmers, saying “the men and women between the government and the farmers in the agriculture settings are the problem to farmers, especially the carrier officers.
“These individuals are seriously corrupting the system to their selfish advantage.”
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