Minister of interior Rauf Aregbesola on Tuesday accused Osun State Governor Gboyega Oyetola of working to tarnish his image and destroy his legacies since he came to power in 2018.
Aregbesola, who was governor of Osun before handing over to Oyetola, said in Yoruba during a rally held in Iwo that the title ‘Ileri Oluwa’, a political title that Oyetola had been using since he was elected, actually belonged to him.
The minister said he had withdrawn the name and given it to his favoured candidate ahead of Saturday’s governorship primary, Moshood Adeoti.
He said, “I am the one bearing Ileri Oluwa, they are not the one. If you can remember vividly in 2014, K1 sang the Ileri Oluwa song, which he did for us in Osun. Aregbesola is Ileri Oluwa; Aregbesola is the one bearing Ileri Oluwa.
“Yesterday (Monday), at Ijebu-Jesa, I called on God that enough is enough. We have collected it from them now. I lent them to use, but they misused it; now, I have collected it from them.
“All the prayers that had been said through the name have returned back to me.
“We lent them and they misused the power to back-bite us and tarnish our image to destabilise the peace of Osun State; all the good works that God has used us to do, they wanted to destroy.
“I heard they said they wanted to go for a second term; that will not happen. I have given Ileri Oluwa to Moshood Adeoti.”
Aregbesola, who has also drawn the battleline with presidential aspirant Bola Tinubu over his feud with Oyetola, also presented the All Progressives Congress flag to Adeoti.
However, Oyetola’s chief press secretary Ismail Omipidan told PUNCH that Osun people “will determine Oyetola’s fate and not an individual trying to play God.”
