Adedokun Waliyu 
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, did not partake in the ongoing Osun State Governorship election, The PUNCH has reliably gathered.
It was learnt that the former governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, has travelled abroad to attend a conference.
According to an aide of the minister, Aregbesola shunned the election to avoid a crisis.
Recall that Aregbesola had publicly moved against the second-term ambition of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola.
Instead, Aregbesola endorsed the former Secretary to the State Government, Moshood Adeoti, who later lost to Oyetola at the APC governorship primary election held on February 19.
It was learnt that the minister was in Lagos State on Thursday before travelling to Abuja on Friday.
When contacted, Aregbesola’s media adviser, Sola Fasure, confirmed the minister’s absence.
“He proceeded on an official assignment on Friday,” Fasure said.
The media aide noted that Aregbesola was not invited to work for Oyetola’s second-term bid in Osun.
He also said the minister was not named in the Osun State campaign team by the All Progressives Congress.
He said, “Aregbesola is not in Oshogbo. He is on an official assignment. He was not invited and not a part of the election council. The governor did not also invite him to be part of the campaign.”
The Osun Progressives, a faction of the All Progressives Congress loyal to the Minister of Interior Affairs, Rauf Aregbesola, has broken silence on the Osun State Governorship election holding Saturday.
The TOP’s position was contained in a post shared by a former commissioner in the state, Sikiru Ayedun, on Friday.
The group reiterated that it remains a part of the APC despite the alleged maltreatment of its members by Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s administration.
Earlier, there had been speculation that TOP may work for the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, Ademola Adeleke, in the election:
It was reported that 15 political parties are participating in the election, while 1,955,657 registered voters will decide the fate of the candidates.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had also said the election would take place in 332 registration areas across the 30 local government areas of the state.
Though 15 political parties would be participating in the election, the top contenders are the candidate of APC, Oyetola and the candidate of the PDP, Adeleke.
This would be the second time the two candidates would be meeting.
Both Oyetola and Adeleke contested for the Osun governorship seat in 2018, which Oyetola won after a rerun.
After the rerun election which took place in seven units, Oyetola won seven, while Adeleke won one.
At the end of the rerun, Oyetola polled 255,505 votes while the PDP candidate scored a total of 255,023 votes.
Although Adeleke had led Oyetola with 353 votes at the end of the first round of ballots, but after the rerun, Oyetola won with 482 votes.
Part of the statement issued by TOP read, “As the Osun Governorship Election comes up tomorrow, we The Osun Progressives have been inundated with calls, questions and demands for our position by the media and our supporters and enthusiasts.
Fundamentally, we are unabashedly democrats of the progressive hue. We live its credo and our entire being is in it.
“Our association, a caucus within the State of Osun All Progressives Congress, was founded last year when we alarmingly saw the direction our party was going. It was like the falcon could no longer hear the falconer. We were filled with trepidation on the tempest long foretold.
“We were at this junction before, in the run-off to the 2003 General election. We feared that history might tragically repeat itself except we acted selflessly and forthrightly. Like-minded members and leaders of the party, therefore, came together to form the group.
“The administration of our leader, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, produced a successor in Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, against all odds, by snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. We worked hard on the mantra of continuity, the continuation of the giant development strides of the Aregbesola administration, which endeared the party to the people of the state, producing the victory that brought Governor Oyetola into office.
“As a caucus within the party, we have consistently made strident efforts at peace and reconciliation within our party. For this, we have only asked for one condition, which is inclusiveness.
“The State Governor and his henchmen, most regrettably, have turned his office and our party into a zero-sum game. You are either with them or against them. They rejected any idea of inclusiveness. They rebuffed all propositions for peace and reconciliation and not even a Councillorship position was ceded to any other section of the party outside of the Ileri-Oluwa caucus.
“Any party member that is not publicly demonstrating obscene loyalty to the governor and attacking Ogbeni Aregbesola or anyone remotely or directly associated with him is branded an enemy and marked for alienation from government and party offices. Worse still, the independent-minded party members not praise singing the Governor are subject to insidious and malevolent attacks.
“The policy of exclusion in Osun APC is so deep that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who is the immediate past Governor of the state and the current minister from the state was neither consulted, invited nor included in any party matter, the most recent of which is the APC’s Osun Campaign Council for this election. This posturing has riven the party.
“Nevertheless, we remain unflinching members of our party, the All Progressives Congress and stand by its ideals, irrespective of our travails or even the outcome of tomorrow’s election. We are long-distance runners and will not abandon the ship of our party, in calm or stormy waters.”
