As attacks continue in the camp of Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State over the open castigation of the governor by the Interior Minister, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, in Ilesha, an aide to the minister has lent his voice.
Joining in the war of words, a special consultant to Aregbesola on security matters, Dr. Oladipupo Okeyomi, on Sunday asked Aregbesola’s critics from the Okefia Government House, Osogbo, to “shut up”.
Okeyomi who claimed to have monitored the brickbats from the beginning wondered why a “silent, caring and hardworking man like Aregbesola should be subjected to undue political intimidation for three good years”.
“Now, the words of the elders have come to pass that when you’re pushed to the wall, you must turn back and fight.
“I wonder why our politics is replete with ingrates; with people to whom you would show love, get committed to and lift up to position of leadership, only to repay you with unnecessary envy and vaulting ambition to become a sudden hero.
“They (Oyetola’s group) should come and and say the sin Aregbesola has committed to warrant the way they have taken to the media, trying to rubbish his glorious era as governor of Osun State for eight solid years.
“We know how they have been crawling to be noticed in the last four years; now, another election is coming, and they want Aregbesola whom they have demonised all this while to become their friend, by force, by fire,” Okeyomi, widely known as Carry Go, appraised.
Aregbesola, Oyetola’s immediate predecessor, had on Friday in his Ilesha countryhome of Osun State, declared that he was with the Rasaq Salinsile-led faction of the APC in the state.
The Minister of Interior, while addressing his supporters at a public gathering, said there was no point hiding the fact Osun APC had been divided into two factions-one belonging to him, and the other, to Governor Oyetola.
Aregbesola who spoke in the Yoruba language, also disclosed that during two terms of tenure as Governor in the state, there was no security breach that threatened the state’s safety, saying the feat was achieved due to extraordinary efforts to keep the state safe.
“For those in doubt, Osun APC is divided. We have APC, Rauf Aregbesola’s faction which is chaired by Hon Razaq Salinsile and the other. Everybody is doing his or her own, later, we will renegotiate, we will rearrange everything. The caucus that produced our faction is called The Osun Progressives (TOP) chaired by Elder Lowo Adebiyi.
Those people who are doubting whether I am part of TOP or not should listen up, I belong to TOP wholeheartedly.
“I am happy that the Commissioner of Police is here. There is a lot of lies that are flying around, I steered the affairs of this state for eight years when I was there, you can check your record, there was no trouble, we do the job with the whole of our body to record the feat for 8 years. I use to sleep for 2 to 3 hours every day. I did not only do the job with my heart but my whole body” said the Minister.
He urged the Commissioner of Police, Olawale Olokode, to “remain objective” in the critical period in the state for the force to achieve success.
“I am a son of the soil; we cannot work to scuttle the state. My parents are from this state. If the police follow the dictate of their job without being biased, they will record success”, he said.