There are indications that the acrimonious relationship between the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola and one of the national leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu might have reached its apogee recently.
Aregbesola, a former governor of Osun state, while addressing his supporters on Monday publicly lambasted Tinubu for allegedly trying to equate himself to God in the state.
He criticised Tinubu for trying to impose a candidate on the state, revealing that the APC Chieftain allegedly imposed the sitting governor, Gboyega Oyetola, on the people, against popular will.
The 64-year-old minister, while recounting how Oyetola emerged as the governorship candidate of APC revealed that Tinubu called him in July 2018 and declared that the incumbent Governor will be his successor.
Aregbesola said the former Lagos Governor had promised him that Oyetola would consolidate on his eight-year lagacy, but hasn’t fulfilled the promises three-and-half years after winning office.
Aregbesola, therefore, called on APC members in Osun to support a former Secretary to the State Government, Moshood Adeoti, in the Saturday’s governorship primary. He declared that enough is enough for the politics of godfatherism and enthronement by treacherous leaders who equated themselves to the status of a god.
In his words, “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.
“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.
“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.”
