The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has claimed that it does not know to which party the former governor and ex-interior Minister, Rauf Aregbesola, belongs.
Speaking with journalists at an event organised to welcome him, the immediate past senate spokesperson, Dr Ajibola Basiru said the former Minister failed to work for the party nor the President, Bola Tinubu during his electioneering campaign or election.
According to the former senator, Bisi Akande, Gboyega Oyetola stood by the party and its candidates through thick and thin. They are our leaders and we will continue to accord them appropriate respect and regard.
Basiru who served as two-term commissioner of Regional Integration as well as Justice under Aregbesola’s administration, explained how he warned his former principal not to form a faction in the party.
“I told you the immediate past Minister of Interior, Mr Aregbesola, was our leader but I don’t know which party he belongs to now. I don’t know, on a more serious note. Quote me, he was our leader but I don’t know which party he belongs to. For the past three elections, we have not seen him participating in any of our party’s activities.
So, you can ask him which party he belongs to. Today, I am in APC, I worked for APC whether we win or lose. Go and ask him, which party he voted for in the governorship election, which party he voted for during the presidential election and during the House of Assembly election. He was our leader, but today, I am not sure whether he is still within the party. I am not abusing him. Even Asiwaju that is his benefactor, he didn’t vote for him.
“I can say today that the leaders of our party are Baba Bisi Akande and Gboyega Oyetola. Journalists, you can verify, we have had four important processes leading to the general elections.
There was the primaries that brought Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at Eagles Square. You as journalists, go and ask those people that said they have tent and their leaders, what role did they play in the emergence of Asiwaju as the candidate of our party?”
“Even today, they claim Asiwaju is their mentor, he is your mentor but you did not deem it fit to support your mentor to emerge as the candidate of the APC. It is a moral question that they must answer.
Asked why he did not get the support of Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun, where he hailed, the ex-legislator said, “I did not go to his palace to campaign. He has seized to be a monarch. He is an active and card-carrying member of the PDP.”
Highlighting his achievements and intervention in the last four years, Basiru enjoined party members to go back to their wards and continue with their meetings, vowing that the party will soon return to trenches and rescue power from the ruling PDP in the state.