Rauf Aregbesola, the former interior minister, admitted that he purposefully chose not to endorse his party’s nominee for governor of Osun State in the 2022 election in order to avoid upsetting the state’s voters.
The two-time governor of Osun, Aregbesola, talked on a radio program in Ilesha on Tuesday.
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According to him, politics of bitterness and boastful exclusion of him and his supporters by the then ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state prevented them from supporting the re-election bid of former Governor Gboyega Oyetola.
“There is nothing like exclusivity when it comes to politics or elections. All interests matter and are important. When I wanted to run for a second term as governor in 2014, I ensured that even the bigwigs of the opposition party joined us.
“I rallied everybody because we knew how important it was to have a strong and formidable party going into the elections. That was why we were able to achieve success.
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“But in a situation when some individuals decide to exclude some people, ostracise them and want to even throw them out of the party, that (defeat) is what you would get. I have no power or control over the decision of where anyone wishes to vote or support in a political contest.
“Politicians or party men and women constitute only 10% of the electorate. The success of any election rests on the level of how people are able to embrace others, irrespective of their convictions or personal aggrandisement to others.”
He added, “They (Oyetola and others) never wanted us, and our existence gave them a constant headache. There was even a video that trended at the time when they said anyone who was not invited to their campaign and comes around would bear the consequences of whatever happens to him/her.
“They did not want me. That was why I stayed away. In order not to create confusion as to who I was supporting or supported in the governorship election, I had to stay away.”
Oyetola, who lost the election and failed to get redress both at the tribunal and Supreme Court, was recently appointed as the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy by President Bola Tinubu.
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