Ademola Adeleke
Governor-Elect of Osun state, Sen Ademola Adeleke, has disclosed that some associates of Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola worked for him in the recently concluded governorship election in which he emerged the winner.
Recall that in Saturday’s election, Adeleke secured victory in the stronghold of the APC, a development which many attributed to the rift between Governor Gboyega Oyetola and Aregbesola.
Speaking in an interview on Channels Television, Adeleke who reacted to claim of Aregbesola supporting the PDP, disclosed that he did not work with the minister on his governorship bid but with some of his associates.
He said;
“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.
“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.”
On how he reacted to Aregbesola and Oyetola falling out, Adeleke said he thanked God for the development, adding that the conflict paved way for his victory.
He said;
“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.”
