- Says Oyetola Group Failed To Reach An Agreement With The Caucus
The former Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has opened up on efforts made by members of his tendency to ensure that the All Progressives Congress (APC) retained power in the state in 2022.
Aregbesola, while addressing members of Omoluabi Progressives Caucus, during an end of the year party of the caucus over the weekend, explained that if the camp of former governor Gboyega Oyetola had listened to the demands of the caucus at an Abuja meeting, the situation would have been different.
He added that while the members of his caucus opted for 1/3 of the government and elective positions available, leaving the rest to the other camp, they were solidly behind resolving all issues with the IleriOluwa camp.
The former governor of Osun State said that while he chose to preserve the progressive legacy and support the administration he handed over to, the Ilerioluwa camp had other thoughts and alienated everything he achieved while he led the state.
Aregbesola also noted that he suggested ways of achieving success with the campaign of Oyetola’s re-election, but the ideas were not considered at all.
He said: “A meeting held in Abuja early last year in a view of the governorship election in Osun. At the meeting, our caucus demanded for 1/3 of the available political and government positions in the next dispensation and not the current administration on board as at the time, the representative of our overall leader as at the time lauded us for such considerate move.
“The meeting began at 10pm and lasted till around 4am. I (Aregbesola) also told them the ways to go if they wanted me to publicly endorse Oyetola’s candidacy and campaign publicly for him. Till I speak, we are yet to get feedback till this moment.
“They had started their campaign of calumny against us since November 2020. They said it was because of our policies that they didn’t win at the first ballot in 2018.
“We wanted to celebrate their second anniversary with them in 2020. They asked us not to come to the state that our presence would create hostility in the state. They did not want to associate with us.
“Their publicist went on OSBC a few days to the campaigns that whoever that is not invited to the campaigns and came should take whatever happens to him/her.
“As Omoluabis of good conscience, we decided to take the honourable way. We have left them to their conscience and for God to judge. I decided to make this clarification because of the lies being peddled around,” Aregbesola stressed.
Sodiq Yusuf is a trained media practitioner and journalist with considerable years of experience in print, broadcast, and digital journalism. His interests cover a wide range of causes in politics, governance, sports, community development, and good governance.
