Ahead of the Osun State governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) scheduled for Saturday, a Coalition of Civil Society Organisations in Osun State has called on the federal government to sack the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, for allegedly promoting crisis in the state.
Aregbesola, a former governor of the state has been having a running battle with his successor, Gboyega Oyetola over the control of the party in the state.
The spokesperson of the coalition, Mr. Wasiu Alli made the call while addressing a press conference on Thursday in Abuja.
The coalition said Aregbesola had in the past one week engaged in a public show of rascality, encouragement of followers to behave in manners that undermine the superintendence of the present administration in the State, denigration of elder statesmen, among many others.
It stressed that the recent utterances of Aregbesola are already heating the polity in the State to a point where residents now live in fear.
The coalition pointed out that if the federal government fails to call Aregbesola to order and charge him to focus on his official responsibilities instead of going about causing civil unrest, he will end up inflaming the otherwise peaceful Osun State.
It added: “It is to be stated that the number of jailbreaks in the referenced period is unprecedented in the over 60 years of existence of the country. This speaks about the administrative incompetence of Mr. Aregbesola whose superintendence over the Interior Ministry has seen it degenerate into one that cannot secure its own Correctional Centres.
“Where Mr. Aregbesola should be seen finding solutions to these now-common jailbreaks; he has been busy promoting unrest in Osun State.
“Where he cannot be cautioned, we demand his outright sack or redeployment if he cannot act responsibly in line with the dictates of the Office he presently holds. A Public Officer must never be seen acting contrary to the spirit and provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.”
The coalition said where the federal government is unable to act swiftly to caution Aregbesola, the Senate must show capacity by sanctioning his sack and impress it on the President to effect same.
Reacting, Aregbesola said he wouldn’t have responded to this infantile antic but for well-meaning members of the public who may be worried about the resort to violence by well-known non-state actors sponsored by the current administration in the State of the Virtuous.
The minister who responded in a statement issued by his Media Adviser, Mr. Sola Fasure said the coalition was hurriedly put together and plotted by the leadership of the State Government in Osun.
He insisted that the State Government of Osun in particular has mounted a campaign of calumny against the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) because they were providing security for some citizens in Osun while they hold meetings and Ward off attacks against them.
According to him, “Our attention has been drawn to a sinister plot by an array of one-man pseudo non-governmental organizations, hurriedly put together and plotted by the leadership of the State Government in Osun.”
