BLAME OYETOLA AND NOT AREGBESOLA FOR THE FATE THAT BEFELL OSUN APC:
Anybody irrespective of position he/she may be occupying, that may be blaming Rauf Aregbesola for the APC predicament in Osun is calling for the wrath of almighty God upon his/her head.
Even the president Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu can not accept the kind of treatments melted out on Rauf Aregbesola and his loyalists in Osun by Gboyega Oyetola just because he is relating to Asiwaju. Here is somebody that God used to return the progressive back to power in Osun after the exit of Chief Bisi Akande in 2002. Who among those blaming Rauf now could have faced and survived the PDP/Oyinlola’s onslaughts against Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola between 2004 to 2010?
There may be some powerful people behind Rauf Aregbesola’s moves then, who were supporting him financially and morally, but if not his ruggedity, the AC/ACN then would not have survived the struggles. I can still remember how late Dipo Dina was assassinated in Ogun state on similar struggles. Rauf almost lay down his life for the progressive to regain the power back. I remember “Oroki Day episode of 2006”
Rauf did not only won the governorship seat, but used the position judiciously and progressively as well to make our leaders proud, with so many initiatives that yielded positive results for the people of Osun state.
Despite the fact that Chief Bisi Akande wasn’t the one that handed over power to Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, he used the position to honored and immortalized Baba Akande with naming of a very big project after Baba Akande. Chief Abdulkareem Adebisi Akande Trumpet Bridge at Gbongan. Let’s compare this with the ways Oyetola treated Rauf Aregbesola who handed over power to him, and bring out lessons there.
If Rauf had treated Baba Akande the way he did, I think Oyetola shouldn’t have treated Ogbeni the ways he did if he will learn from Rauf Aregbesola or pay Rauf back in his own coins, but reverse was the case with Oyetola and the reason he gives always at the beginning of the matter is that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola never wanted him to succeed him as governor.
Honestly I blame Ogbeni for that 2018 decision where he jettisdon zoning arrangements to honor his political leader from Lagos who insisted Oyetola must succeed Rauf. If Rauf had stood by the Osun West agitators then and pick either his SSG, Alhaji Adeoti Moshood Olalekan or the speaker Rt Hon Najeem Folasayo Salaam from West senatorial district, heaven would not have fallen, just like heaven did not fall in Ekiti when former governor Kayode Fayemi resisted similar pressures from Lagos state and made sure his preferred candidate emerged the party’s candidate and subsequently won the governorship election and succeeded him.
Up till now, some political novices are still blaming Rauf Aregbesola’s policies that have passed test of times as the reason why APC struggled to win 2018 governorship election and trying to cover up the obvious lack of popularity of Oyetola, but after reversal of most of these policies, Oyetola still failed his reelection bid in July 16th and this alone has vindicated some of us that insisted that Oyetola has never been a popular candidate from day one.
The circumstances Oyetola became governor in 2018 is never hidden to almost all the players in Osun and this alone should have been the guiding principles for Oyetola, but immediately Oyetola assumed the position, he introduced the politics of segregation where he created his faction “IleriOluwa group” and gave order that whoever that want to benefit from his administration must either join the group or forget about getting any benefits.
He started recruiting those who never wanted him to be party’s flagbear in the first instance but later came back after the litigations that followed his election in 2018. People like Sunday Akere and others came back to the party after supreme court judgement of July 5th 2019 and he rewarded them with political appointments while he sidelined those of us who stood by him, voted for him because we are too loyal to Rauf Aregbesola. This he did from political appointments to party positions where he removed all Rauf Aregbesola’s loyalists and replaced them with his IleriOluwa group.
Even if Rauf Aregbesola had taken decision to campaign for Oyetola in 2022, many of us would have fought Ogbeni because we are the ones treated badly by Gboyega Oyetola because of our loyalties to him.
I blame Oyetola and I will continue blaming him for the calamities that eventually befell APC in the state because of his lack of leadership qualities expected of a governor. If Ogbeni Rauf despite his political sagacity and ruggedity could still went as far as woeing Prince Oyinlola and late senator Isiaika Adeleke in 2014 for his second term bid, I wonder what informed Oyetola’s decision not to have anything doing with Rauf Aregbesola and his loyalists in Osun during July 16th governorship election. He relied too much on senator Iyiola Omisore and financial muscle but, all failed him at the end.
Let Oyetola and his group burry their egos and give rooms for true reconciliation and restructuring of the party against 2026 and stop chasing shadow and blame games.
To be continued….
Adabanija Qomarudeen Idowu Mayegun is my name, from Ward 3, Egbedore local government area of the state.
