Osun: APC Speaks On Oyetola Betraying Aregbesola

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has challenged former Interior Minister, Rauf Aregbesola over allegations against ex-Governor Gboyega Oyetola, labelling Aregbesola as untruthful.

During a weekend event in Ilesa, Aregbesola accused Oyetola of betraying him and his supporters over a supposed power-sharing agreement, which he claims contributed to Oyetola’s loss of a second term.

In response, APC Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, issued a statement on Tuesday denying the existence of any power-sharing agreement as claimed by Aregbesola.

He stated that the only agreement from a meeting at Chief Bisi Akande’s residence in December 2020, attended by Bola Tinubu, was actually violated by Aregbesola himself.

Lawal said, “At the end of the meeting, it was Aregbesola who prepared the contents of the resolutions and gave it to our Baba, Chief Bisi Akande, to vet before it was passed on to the leaders of the party. And part of the agreement was that there would be an automatic ticket for Oyetola and that while Oyetola would be allowed to face governance without interference from any quarters, the trio of Chief Bisi Akande, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola will lead, guide, coordinate and administer the party as the apex body.

“But during the primaries, Aregbesola sponsored Alhaji Moshood Adeoti against Oyetola contrary to the agreement reached. Oyetola won the election by 222,169 votes against Adeoti’s 12,921 votes. The same Aregbesola went to court with Adeoti to challenge the outcome of the primary. He also sponsored 10 different cases in various courts to challenge the nomination of Oyetola as the candidate of the APC. Before then, he held a parallel congress and pushed unsuccessfully to have a validly elected chairman of the party replaced with his factional chairman.

“As if that was not enough, Aregbesola went ahead to sponsor three different candidates against Oyetola in the governorship election. So, who betrayed each other? You be the judge. In fact, we are surprised that the National leadership of the party in Abuja has not acted on all the petitions we wrote to catalogue Aregbesola’s anti-party activities.

“Yes, Aregbesola and his group did anti-party, for which they have been duly compensated by the PDP, their activities was not responsible for our fate. We lost to brigandage and terror unleashed on our people by the PDP, with heavy support from men of the civil defence under the control of Aregbesola.”

On the claim that he spent three years begging Oyetola for reconciliation, the APC chairman queried, “Which of the years is Aregbesola talking about? The man who lied that he begged Oyetola for three years should be asked when the three years began counting: Was it before he unleashed TOP on Oyetola or after it? Oyetola did everything within his powers to accommodate Aregbesola, including ensuring that about 10 cabinet members who served in his (Aregbesola) cabinet were retained by Oyetola.

“By his latest false claims, Aregbesola is only seeking political relevance but we will not be distracted by his antics. We call on every loyal and committed member of the APC in Osun to be wary of him. He meant no good for the party.”