- Dedicates Victory To Late Brother
The Governor-elect of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke has stated that some associates of Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola worked for him in the just concluded election.
Adeleke made this known on Monday in an interview with Channels Television, noting that he did not work with Aregbesola and that he didn’t even talk to him, but said he knew of some his associates, who are likely to have worked for him in the background.
Adeleke was on Sunday declared governor-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), with a total of 403,371 votes ahead of outgoing Governor Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 375,027 votes.
Adeleke secured victory in the stronghold of the APC, which many attributed to the rift between Oyetola and Aregbesola.
He said, “I did not work with Aregbesola. I didn’t even talk to him, but all I know is his associates, for example, Kolapo Alimi, one of the lawyers that represented Oyetola at the tribunal,” he said.
“Then, anytime I saw him (Alimi) in court, because I’m a civilised person, I will go to them and greet them and say ‘how are you doing?’ It was later he apologised and said ‘he was thinking ‘why is senator Adeleke greeting me? We are trying to mess him up and he is still greeting me’.
“But he later told me that while I was greeting him, I didn’t know that I was giving them poison. They knew that I won the election and they rigged me out and I was still greeting them. I believe that Aregbesola and Oyetola fell out.
“He (Alimi) came to me and said he has watched me and that he wants to join our party and we accepted. But Aregbesola directly? No. But we know a lot of top APC that joined. Assuming that I had been talking to Aregbesola one way or the other, then I would say that maybe he gave them go-ahead to support me.
“These people have grown; they have their own minds to decide if they want to join me or not. They believed that I was the one to beat and they came to me. I won’t know whether Aregbesola gave them go-ahead or not, because I have not been talking to Aregbesola.”
Adeleke who broke down in tears while recounting the impact his late brother, Isiaka Adeleke, had on him and how it propelled him to victory, said his older brother died in the battle for the governorship seat.
He said he has dedicated his victory at the just concluded gubernatorial election in the state to Senator Isiaka who died on April 23, 2017.
He said, “This victory, I dedicated it to him (Senator Isiaka) because he taught me who I am.
“He died for this course. He wanted to be the governor of Osun State to save our people out of slavery but look at what happened, he died.
“I am so happy that his spirit lives. I know he is happy that his younger brother is now the governor-elect. I thank God that his spirit still lives”.
