All eyes on Osun, as Aregbesola, Oyetola battle for supremacy in APC

All eyes are on the direct Primary election of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Osun state, today, February 19, which is featuring the incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola; a former secretary to the state government, Honourable Moshood Adeoti; and a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Yusuf Lasun.

The trio are contesting for the party’s ticket to contest in the state’s governorship election, scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to hold on July 16, 2022.

However, the real battle is between the immediate former governor of the state, who is also the current Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, and Governor Oyetola.

Oyetola served in Aregbesola’s government, as Chief of Staff, but the latter has recently lamented that the former was forced on him as successor by a “leader” believed to be former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu.

Aregbesola has openly annointed his former SSG, Moshood Adeoti, whom he would have preferred as a successor in 2018, if the incumbent had not been imposed on him by his political godfather, according to him.

Read also: More drama around ‘Aregbesola shooting’ as group claims Osun govt gave students N1m to protest

The minister alleged in a viral video that despite sacrificing his choice of successor for Oyetola to emerge in 2018, the governor “is doing all in his power to rubbish my legacy”

Aregbesola who has now fallen out with Tinubu, was heard in the video saying, “We followed and served this leader with all our might. In fact, our loyalty to him had caused some people to start wondering if we were no longer Muslims. Sadly, we didn’t know that while we wished him well, he didn’t think good of us.”

Today’s primary election is the last shot for the minister to get back his grip of the party structure in the state.

It promises to be an interesting bout between the duo. One with perceived federal might, the other with the power of incumbency and favored by a faction of the leadership of the party in the state.

By: Oluwatobi Odeyinka

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