Ademola Adeleke, governor-elect of Osun state, says some
associates of Rauf Aregbesola, minister of interior, supported him during the
governorship election.
The governor-elect spoke in an interview aired by Channels
Televison on Monday.
On Sunday, Adeleke, candidate of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), was declared winner of the Osun governorship election.
Adeleke secured 403,371 votes to defeat his closest
contender, Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled
375,027 votes.
The governor-elect had also contested in 2018 and polled
ahead by less than 400 votes, but the election was declared inconclusive after
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said the number of
cancelled votes –over 3,000 — exceeded the difference between both parties.
Oyetola eventually become governor after he won the rerun,
and although Adeleke challenged the election outcome, the Supreme Court, in
July 2019, upheld Oyetola as winner of the poll.
Adeleke’s victory has stirred varied reactions, with some
political analysts saying the feud between Aregbesola, a former Osun governor,
and Oyetola contributed to the defeat of the APC.
Prior to the election, Aregbesola and Oyetola fell out over
the tussle for control of the Osun APC leadership.
The minister was also absent during the party’s campaign in
the state, and did not vote in the election.
Speaking on the claim that Aregbesola supported the PDP,
Adeleke said he did not work with the minister on his governorship bid.
“I did not work with Aregbesola. I didn’t even talk to him,
but all I know is his associates, for example, Kolapo Alimi, one of the lawyers
that represented Oyetola at the tribunal,” he said.
“Then, anytime I saw
him (Alimi) in court, because I’m a civilised person, I will go to them and
greet them and say ‘how are you doing?’ It was later he apologised and said ‘he
was thinking ‘why is senator Adeleke greeting me? We are trying to mess him up
and he is still greeting me’.
“But he later told me that while I was greeting him, I
didn’t know that I was giving them poison. They knew that I won the election
and they rigged me out and I was still greeting them. I believe that Aregbesola
and Oyetola fell out.
“He (Alimi) came to me and said he has watched me and that
he wants to join our party and we accepted. But Aregbesola directly? No. But we
know a lot of top APC that joined.
“Assuming that I had been talking to Aregbesola one way or
the other, then I would say that maybe he gave them go-ahead to support me.
“These people have grown; they have their own minds to
decide if they want to join me or not. They believed that I was the one to beat
and they came to me. I won’t know whether Aregbesola gave them go-ahead or not,
because I have not been talking to Aregbesola.”
Asked what was his reaction when Oyetola and Aregbesola fell
out, the governor-elect said he thanked God for the development, while
admitting that the conflict paved way for his victory.
“I said God is good.
These (Aregbesola and Oyetola) are the people that colluded that time. They
were together. Kolapo Alimi told me the truth that they robbed me. Even the
president said it when he came over here that they won the election through
remote control,” he said.
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