February 20, (THEWILL) – What seemed initially like a cold war between former Osun State Governor and Minister of Interior, Rafiu Aregbesola and his estranged political godfather and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, assumed another dimension last week when Aregbesola ridiculed Tinubu during a meeting of the APC leadership in Osun held at Ijebu-Ijesha on Monday, February 14, 2022, ahead of the party’s governorship primary in the state.
Political analysts and watchers of political developments in the country had earlier noticed that Aregbesola’s refusal to visit Tinubu in London, where he went for medical attention last year, had put a strain on their relationship.
Although Tinubu received many visitors, including President Muhammadu Buhari, while recuperating in his private home in London, most of his godsons including, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), who succeeded him as Lagos State governor; and Aregbesola did not travel to London nor did they visit him when he returned to Nigeria.
Aregbesola openly accused Tinubu, who is also aspiring to contest in the 2023 presidential election, of attempting to control the politics of Osun State by backing Governor Gboyega Oyetola for a second term in office.
Addressing party faithful and stakeholders in Ijebu-Ijesha, Aregbesola said, “Honestly, we followed and served this leader with all our might. Our loyalty to him had caused some people to start wondering if we were no longer Muslims. But we served him with sincerity and loyalty. If you regard anyone as your principal, you must serve him wholeheartedly. Sadly we didn’t know that while we wished him well, he didn’t think well of us.
“Because we placed him higher than where he ordinarily should be, he started to think that he is our god. Unfortunately for him, we had sworn that we would beg God to bring down whoever compared himself to Him.”
Tinubu’s decision to join the race for the presidency conflicts with Vice President Osinbajo’s aspiration to the same office and this has contributed to the collapse of the former’s political dynasty.
One of the members of Tinubu’s political dynasty, who is currently serving in the Office of the Vice President as Special Adviser on Politics to the President, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, has recently declared that he is not in support of Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
Ojudu didn’t stop at that; he further stated that contrary to insinuations making the rounds, Tinubu did not make him successful as he was already an accomplished publisher before meeting the former Lagos State governor.
The former lawmaker said this in a statement titled, ‘Principled Political Choices are not Betrayal.’
Ojudu, who is currently leading Osinbajo’s presidential campaign team, said he would continue to follow his conscience.
He said, “The idea that everyone who has related with Tinubu and disagrees with him on this presidential bid is a traitor and a betrayer is puerile. Many of us, his associates, were not made by him as you also want the world to believe.
“We were already made before meeting him and in the course of relating, we gave one another a helping hand. As far back as 1992 when I came to know him, I was already one of the editors of a popular news magazine with a good standing too in the civil society.”
Ojudu, who represented Ekiti Central Senatorial District between 2011 and 2015, said he could not in good conscience support Tinubu for the Presidency.
So following Ojudu’s footstep in daring Tinubu, Aregbesola showed his political colour last week by openly declaring that he would not support Governor Gboyega Oyetola, Tinubu’s nephew, in the APC governorship primary election in Osun State, which was held last Saturday.
Instead, the minister declared support for the former Secretary to the Osun State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti in the primary election.
Aregbesola claimed that the Gboyega Oyetola administration had deviated from the true tenets of the APC.
He said Tinubu told him in 2018, while handing Oyetola to him as his successor, that he would uphold his legacies in Osun.
He stressed that when Oyetola reneged on his promises to be loyal and walk with him, the person, who handed him (Oyetola) over to him failed to draw the governor’s attention to his mistakes.
Aregbesola went on to declare war against his erstwhile political associates who had decided to throw their weight behind Oyetola for a second term, including Tinubu and ex-Osun State governor, Bisi Akande.
“With suffering, pain and perseverance, we nurtured this party to the stage where it is. After we served for eight years, it wasn’t only party members that benefitted from our administration, the entire state did. I went everywhere in Osun with projects.
“However, by the time my successor was handed over to me around May or July 2018, I was told, ‘Rauf, this is the ideal successor that will stand by you. He will further showcase your efforts. He will not betray you and he will not dim the light of your glory.’
“That was what the person, who handed him over to me said. If the person is listening to me, it will resonate with him, if he said so or not. But, did he do as he was vouched for?
“And when he reneged on these promises, did the person, who handed him over to me draw his attention to these failings?
Aregbesola said that he begged Oyetola not to destroy the APC in Osun for two years, but the governor refused to listen.
While addressing a crowd of supporters in Ikire, Irewole Local Government Area of Osun State, last Thursday, Aregbesola said he knew that the implication of weakening the APC ahead of the election was grave, not only for Osun but for Nigeria.
He said that having failed to perform to the satisfaction of the people of Osun, there was nothing wrong if the people removed him from office.
He stated those who were not well informed about the situation of the party in Osun could go ahead to castigate him, adding that Oyetola’s failure to provide good governance and his denigration of the achievements of eight years in just four years was enough to make the common man angry.
Aregbesola continued, “I worked very hard to ensure Oyetola’s election. It was a rude shock when he got into office and started a grand witch-hunt against me. We campaigned for Oyetola through thick and thin to make him governor. It was surprising to see how he was behaving to me when he assumed office.
“When he started doing it, I sent emissaries and started begging him. This went on for two years. I continued to send emissaries to him and to appeal to him.
“He said I did not support him to become governor. I appealed to him that he may not even like me, but he should not tarnish my image or destroy my legacies and that of our party, the true progressives in Osun politics. He did not listen. He was bent on destroying me and that is what he has done.
“After two years, genuine party leaders gathered together with the sole aim of rescuing our party from these marauders. That is what we are here to do. We were the ones who worked hard for the progress and success our party has achieved. We brought the former party Chairman, (Famodun) from the PDP. It is time to send them packing.”
Aregbesola, Osun State Governor from 2010 to 2018, and Oyetola, who is seeking re-election, have been at loggerheads over the control of APC organs in the state. Both politicians belong to the governing APC and Oyetola was Aregbesola’s Chief of Staff during his eight-year tenure as governor.
Aregbesola served as Commissioner for Works in Lagos State under Tinubu between 1999 and 2006. Thereafter, he went to Osun, his home state, to contest the governorship election in 2007, but did not win. Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola of the PDP was governor of the state at the time.
With Tinubu’s backing and the help of a battery of senior lawyers hired to prove that the election was rigged, the Appeal Court in Ibadan nullified Oyinlola’s election on November 26, 2010. The following day, Aregbesola was sworn in and governed Osun for eight years
It would be recalled that the genesis of the crisis between Governor Oyetola and Aregbesola was the reversal of most of the latter’s educational policies, such as the single uniform policy, mixed schools, 4-5-3-4 system, among others.
But speaking after the educational reversal was announced, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Ismail Omipidan, noted that speculation around the policy being a jab at the former administration was not correct. He said the new policies were the state government’s response to the yearning of the people.
Similarly, the Commissioner for Political Affairs and Inter-governmental Relations, Taiwo Akeju, has said that the reversal of some education policies introduced by Aregbesola was not aimed at destroying his legacies.
Akeju, who described the immediate past governor and minister of interior as his leader and brother from Ijeshaland, explained that the policy reversal in the education sector had nothing to do with administration vendetta.
In a meeting with journalists in his office, the commissioner described the policy reversal as yielding to the yearning of the people of the state.
He said that during a thank you tour by Oyetola in 2019, the people requested the governor to look into the policies as they had impacted negatively on the lives of the students.
“The policy in 2018 became a talking point in the state. Opposition parties castigated the then candidate of the All Progressives Congress and now the governor, Gboyega Oyetola, for it and he said that if it was the wish of the people to reverse it, he would do that.
“After the 2019 polls, the governor went round the state for his thank you tour and asked people what they wanted him to do for them. It is on record that over 99 per cent of the people requested policy reversal in the education sector.
“More so, the Department for International Development (DFID) after carrying out a survey across the state, recommended a review of the then education policies to the governor.
“After that, we realised that this is a consensus of the people.,” he said.
He said the present administration is committed to upholding, consolidating and sustaining the legacies of the immediate past administration led by Aregbesola.
“What I will tell those insinuating that there is a crisis between Aregbesola and Oyetola is that they should desist from doing so. Both leaders talk several times a day and they both discuss how to make Osun great,” Akeju said.
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
