When former Minister of Interior and ex-Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, took to the podium at the so-called Conscience Forum meeting to promote the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Nigerians were reminded of a troubling truth: a man who could not manage his own house is now attempting to speak as though he holds the key to the nation’s future.
Aregbesola’s political record is riddled with contradictions. In Osun State, his years as governor left behind a trail of debt and disillusionment. Workers were subjected to half salaries and unpaid arrears, infrastructure projects were abandoned midway, and the much-touted “Opon Imo” educational initiative collapsed before it could serve its purpose. Yet, today, he stands before Nigerians, branding himself a defender of the masses.
At the Lagos gathering, he claimed, “Life has become short, hard and brutish for our people under the current anti-people government. We cannot continue on this path.” The irony is glaring. This same Aregbesola presided over policies that strangled civil servants, plunged households into hardship, and created an educational system that students and parents alike still lament. If Nigerians found life “hard and brutish” then, who is he to speak now?
Even his new political refuge, the ADC, exposes his inconsistencies. He proudly cited articles from the ADC constitution forbidding godfathers and moneybags from dominating the party. Yet, this is the same politician who was accused of running Osun State as though it were his personal empire, imposing decisions without consultation and leaving the state’s financial health in ruins. Nigerians remember too well how his quarrels with party leaders in his former political base created endless crises, a mirror of the disunity now brewing within ADC itself.
While he trumpets promises of women and youth representation in politics, his tenure gave little evidence of such inclusivity. Instead, appointments were marred by favoritism and political loyalty rather than competence. The result was a state gasping under selfish policies that offered no sustainable path forward.
Today, Aregbesola parades the ADC as a “people-centred” party, but the cracks within the party are already evident. Leaders are divided, competing interests are tearing at its fragile fabric, and his own history of alienating allies only fuels doubt about the ADC’s future. Nigerians are not blind to the recycled promises he now makes under a new banner.
What Aregbesola fails to understand is that leadership is measured not by flowery speeches about constitutions and ideological clauses, but by lived experience. And in his case, Nigerians have lived through the consequences of his miscommunication, inconsistencies, and selfishness.
Rather than seeking to justify himself, Aregbesola should answer for the chaos he left behind. The people deserve more than hollow words from a man whose political career is defined by broken promises, divided parties, and policies that hurt the very citizens he now claims to champion.