Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State has drawn the ire of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State over his visit to Governor Ayodele Fayose in Ado-Ekiti.
The party said such a visit was a slight on it and contempt for its leadership in the state.
Aregbesola was in Ado-Ekiti on Saturday on the invitation of Fayose for the 20th anniversary of the creation of Ekiti State.
At a public forum broadcast live on the state media, Aregbesola described Fayose as “omoluabi” and a hardworking governor who has turned around the fortunes of Ekiti State in terms of infrastructure.
Social media reports also quoted Aregbesola as saying that “Fayose is a reliable person” and that in spite of political differences, he and Fayose shared many things in common, while also reportedly saying that “sooner than later, there will be realignment of forces”.
Scuffing at the visit in a statement by its publicity secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, Ekiti APC described Aregbesola’s visit to Fayose as a slight on it, stressing that it signposted the contempt into which the party and its leaders were held by the Osun governor after Fayose had caused severe pains in the lives of APC members, some of whom it said had been languishing in jail for about two years for the offences they did not commit.
He said: “Aregbesola’s visit to Fayose praising him as ‘omoluabi’ and for the achievements by APC-led government is not only embarrassing but also awful in the face of sustained attacks on APC members, some of whom are still languishing in jail for about two years over trumped-up charges by Fayose.
“It is shocking that Aregbesola as a governor and one of the leading lights in APC in the South West and indeed the nation would be visiting Ekiti State without putting the leaders into confidence, more so on a visit to a man who once wished the President dead and had done unbelievable things both in Nigeria and abroad to bring Buhari’s government down.
“Worse still, Aregbesola was praising the man who will stop at nothing to bring APC-led Federal Government down after several years of failed attempts by the progressives to win the presidency of Nigeria.”
Olatunbosun also frowned at alleged misappropriation of APC’s authority with the Osun governor promising realignments of forces with Fayose “sooner than later”, saying such “unbridled” trading off of APC in Ekiti State to Fayose would never stand in the face of the governor’s molestation of APC members over the years.
“We find it most embarrassing and shocking that one of our leaders would be planning a re-alignment of forces with a governor that has made life a nightmare for our members, the same members that will participate in the said re-alignment that Aregbesola is talking about, without sparing a thought for members held in jail unjustly while other APC members are routinely attacked by Fayose’s men on the streets.
“We also find it spiteful that Aregbesola would sit with Fayose on this same programme where the latter berated Buhari to no end, including describing the President’s programmes as a theory that is compounding problems for Nigerians,” he said.
Warning that the state leaders would resist any attempt to draft the governor into any realignment with APC in the state and foist him on the party, Olatunbosun noted that Fayose had done enough damage to the integrity of Ekiti people, saying that now was the time for the real “omoluabi” in Ekiti to join forces to rebuild the ruins into which Fayose’s administration had left the state.
