Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has broken silence on the just-concluded Osun State governorship election, following the incumbent Governor Adegboyega Oyetola’s defeat.
Aregbesola reacted to the outcome of the governorship election in a social media post titled, ‘Osun Le Tente’ on Sunday morning.
He also posted a Bible verse, Daniel 4:17, which exalts God’s power to place control in the hands of whoever He wishes.
“This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.” – (Daniel 4:17),” the minister posted.
The former Osun State governor, who boycotted the election, had remained silent on developments in the State after his outburst against the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and his political godfather, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in February 2022 over Oyetola’s governorship candidacy.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday morning declared Ademola Adeleke the governor-elect of Osun State after scoring a majority of votes cast in the governorship election in the state.
The victory came for Adeleke nearly four years after he failed by a small margin in his bid to govern Osun State.
On Saturday, Adeleke polled 403,371 votes to defeat his closest rival, the incumbent governor of the state, Oyetola, who polled 375,027 votes.
Though 15 political parties participated in the election, the top contenders were Oyetola and Adeleke.
Both Oyetola and Adeleke contested for the Osun governorship seat in 2018, which Oyetola won after a rerun.
Aregbesola had publicly moved against the second-term ambition of Governor Oyetola.
Instead, Aregbesola endorsed the former Secretary to the State Government, Moshood Adeoti, who later lost to Oyetola at the APC governorship primary election held on February 19, 2022.
In the outburst ahead of the party’s governorship primary election in the state, Aregbesola said that enough was enough for the politics of godfatherism and enthronement by treacherous leaders who equated themselves to the status of a god.
The minister had said he trusted Tinubu, but the ex-governor of Lagos State repaid him with betrayal.
Aregbesola, who was the governor of Osun State from 2010 to 2018, also accused Tinubu and ex-governor of Osun State, Bisi Akande, of forcing the current governor of the state, Gboyega Oyetola, on the people, against popular will.
Though Aregbesola made moves to reconcile with his political boss Tinubu, the efforts yielded no result.
A few hours to the governorship election, a faction of the APC led by the minister, The Osun Progressives (TOP) released a statement, noting that despite the feud, its members would remain in APC and vote for the party.
This was after a stalwart of the APC and one of the closest loyalists to Aregbesola and a TOP mobiliser, Kolapo Alimi, defected to the PDP.
Aregbesola did not partake in the Osun State governorship election on Saturday.
It was learnt that the former governor of Osun State travelled abroad to attend a conference.
According to an aide of the minister, Aregbesola shunned the election to avoid a crisis.
It was learnt that the minister was in Lagos State on Thursday before travelling to Abuja on Friday.
When contacted, Aregbesola’s media adviser, Sola Fasure, confirmed the minister’s absence.
“He proceeded on an official assignment on Friday,” Fasure said.
The media aide noted that Aregbesola was not invited to work for Oyetola’s second-term bid in Osun.
He also said the minister was not named in the Osun State campaign team by the All Progressives Congress.
He said, “Aregbesola is not in Osogbo. He is on an official assignment. He was not invited and not a part of the election council. The governor did not also invite him to be part of the campaign.”
Meanwhile, LEADERSHIP observed the post by Aregbesola to mock Oyetola over his electoral loss has been deleted.
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