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Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has declared his support for former Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, in next Saturday’s All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary in Osun State.
Aregbesola, who openly denounced his relationship with Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, urged APC members to vote for Adeoti in the primary election.
The minister spoke at the Ijesa North Federal Constituency tour of the Hon Rasaq Salinsile-led faction of APC, held at Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State, on Monday.
He stated that Oyetola’s administration has deviated from the true tenets of the APC, while “those at the helms of affairs have also jettisoned true democracy and the principles which the party and its heroes stand for.”
Aregbesola said the party is back in the hands of true and genuine progressives who will work assiduously to win the July 16 governorship election in the state.
The former governor of Osun State urged party faithful and stakeholders to work in unison for the success of Adeoti in Saturday’s governorship primary of the APC and the election coming up in July.
He noted that the Salinsile-led party executive is the authentic APC in Osun State.
Aregbesola also accused former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and former APC interim chairman and ex-governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, of foisting the current governor of the state, Oyetola, on the people, against popular will.
The minister said no man can terrify him, insisting that Oyetola won’t be reelected for a second term in office.
He 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.
“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.”
The minister continued: “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.”
Aregbesola also noted that if Tinubu and other APC members in Lagos rejected Ambode, claiming he derailed from the original master plan, there was nothing wrong in dethroning Oyetola in Osun because he had derailed from the master plan too.
“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,” he added.
