Aregbesola Makes New Claims On How Tinubu, Ebola Influenced Him On Oyetola’s Re-Election Campaign

The penultimate governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has opened up on the unsuccessful effort by President Bola Tinubu to broker peace between his group and that of Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola ahead of the 2022 election saying he was taunted with Ebola by the camp of the immediate past governor.

Aregbesola who served as minister of interior in the Muhammadu Buhari administration spoke at Ilesa, Osun State at an end-of-the-year thanksgiving organised by the Omoluabi Caucus amid recriminations over his alleged role in the 2022 election that Oyetola lost.

A video of the event attended by many of Aregbesola’s political associates was shared on Facebook by one Lekan Arogundade.

According to Aregbesola, as part of his efforts towards forging unity ahead of the 2022 governorship election, he approached the party’s ‘overall leader’ believed to be Tinubu on how appointments in the Oyetola administration should be shared.

However, he said the overall leader was unable to resolve the crisis.

Aregbosola said, “I have not said this before. On August 26, 2021, our overall leader told us to meet two of his representatives in Abuja.

“Thirty-one people from my group met with the representatives of our overall leader. The meeting started around 10 pm and ended at about 4 a.m. I was not part of the meeting. But they agreed that those pushed out of the party should be reintegrated.

“Those at the meeting also agreed that those in government then were more and because of that, in both appointive and elective posts that were still vacant, they should give our own side one-third while they take two-thirds.

“The representative of our overall boss was impressed. I told him whatever my people had told them, I agreed to it. But I gave them some conditions that I will not reveal now if they want me to come and campaign during the governorship election. But we never heard anything again about that agreement to date.

“The leader of their governorship campaign said on OSBC that anybody who was not invited should not come for the campaign. So, I had to stay away. No true Yoruba man would hear such a declaration and will still go to where he was not invited.

“They didn’t stop at that. They went on a campaign of calumny against me. It was after they failed that they started looking for where to lay the blame. They are shameless.

“They ate their words. By their second year in office, they said it was because they were relating to me that made them not win on the first ballot during the (2018 governorship) election. In November 2020, they said we had Ebola (to avoid a relationship with us). They said we didn’t pay workers’ salaries and pensions. I wanted to come for the second anniversary (of Oyetola in office), but we were told people didn’t want to see us.”

On his political ambitions in the state, he said:

“We are unperturbed. God will judge each one of us on the role we play in the matter. I deliberately speak about it today because people are just muddling up issues. But by the grace of God, by this time in 2024, you will know where we are heading. It will be clear to everyone where Osun people are heading,” Aregbesola said following his expose on his efforts towards Oyetola ahead of the 2022 election.

Send Us A Press Statement Advertise With Us Contact Us

 And For More Nigerian News Visit GWG.NG