Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola on Monday February 14, publicly slammed his longtime political associates.
Speaking in Ijebu Jesa area of Osun State while addressing members of the All Progressives Congress ahead of Saturday’s governorship primary election in the state, the former Governor accused APC National Leader, Bola Tinubu of betraying him even though he trusted him and was also loyal to him.
Insisting that that politics of godfatherism and enthronement by treacherous leaders who equate themselves to the status of a god should be stamped out, he accused Tinubu and former APC interim chairman and ex-governor of Osun State, Bisi Akande, of foisting the current governor of the state, Gboyega Oyetola, on the people, against popular will.
Alleging that Oyetola who took over from him after governing the state for 8 years has not consolidated on his eight-year achievements, he pointed out that ex-governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, was rejected by APC members in 2019 for working against the laid down rules.
Aregbesola said;
“Only God can terrify us, not man. Go and tell them wherever they are, we own this party. We own this Afenifere group. We own this people-loving group started by our patriarchs — (Obafemi) Awolowo and Bola Ige. This is Elder Akande’s group before he temporarily left us. This is our party. Stop calling yourself a factional group; you are not a faction; you are the authentic APC.”
Shortly after singing a political song, Bye-bye to jagba-jagba, rede rede (nonsense) to drive home his points, he added;
“We came back home to reposition our party to where it was meant to be because we followed the leading of our leader that we thought was a noble and reliable fellow. We followed him (Tinubu) dutifully with all sense of loyalty. Some people even thought that we were no longer Muslims because of how we cooperated with him. We dealt with him without treachery but we never knew he planned evil for us. We exalted him beyond his status and he turned himself to a god over us and we had sworn to ridicule anyone who compare himself to God. God has no competitor; He is enough to be God.
“We built this party on perseverance as well as sweat and blood. We lost a lot of people in this struggle but eventually, we came into government on November 27, 2010. We were in government for eight years and governed according to the measure of God’s grace, everybody in Osun enjoyed our tenure.”
Recounting how Tinubu imposed Oyetola as his successor in Osun in 2018, the Minister said;
“When he (Tinubu) will hand over the present governor to me around July of 2018, he (Tinubu) declared that he (Oyetola) will succeed me and continue my good works. That was what he told me. He knows he has not done so if he is listening now and he has failed to call my successor to order.”
Claiming that former Governor of Lagos state, Akinwunmi Ambode was removed after one-term in office for allegedly deviating from the masterplan, he stated that same should be done in Osun state.
Aregbesola said;
“That was how it was in Lagos at a time; a governor derailed and the party members unseated him using the ballot boxes. As it was in Lagos yesterday, so shall it be in Osun today. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander”
