A deputy Editor with The Sun Newspapers and author of “Persona Non Grata,” Ismail Omipidan, has revealed how he predicted the betrayal of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, by former Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, four years before it eventually happened.
In one of his reflections in the book , ” Navigating the Waters of Osun Politics” the author, revealed how he supported the re-election of Aregbesola in 2014 probono, saying that Aregbesola’s attitude and posture before, during and after the 2018 governorship election in Osun, indicated that he never wanted Adegboyega Oyetola as his successor.
He also explained how he warned the Aregbesola’s foot soldiers of the consequences of constituting themselves into an opposition within the PDP.
Hear him: “Before my appointment as the Chief Press Secretary in 2019, I had always shown more than a passing interest in Osun politics. In 2014, when Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola was seeking a re-election, I set up a six-man media
team to do an intervention on his behalf six months before the election. I funded the team and deployed my Facebook timeline in support of Aregbesola. Once the election was won and lost, members of the team approached me and asked when we would be going to Osun to celebrate. That was the first time I let them
know no one was paying my bills and that I had no link with anyone in government. Most of them were shocked at my revelation because for the six months the team worked, in the build up to the election, I made
logistics available throughout. Prior to joining my principal in 2019, I knew what the issues were. I knew how they struggled to win the 2018 election. In fact, I had predicted in one of my articles before the 2018 election that no clear winner would emerge from the first ballot. I went further to state emphatically that any of the two leading candidates that was interested in winning must negotiate with
Senator Iyiola Omisore, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, to carry the day. That was exactly what eventually happened.
For me, the 2018 election was a referendum on Aregbesola. He was faced with what could be regarded as the “battle of his life.”
After the election, I suggested, through my writings on Facebook, to Oyetola to drop the garb of arrogance of Aregbesola and the know-it-all attitude of that administration if he wanted to succeed. I equally admonished Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to do an
introspection on the role of Aregbesola within the political family. I took that position based on what I saw in Ondo and Osun States before, during and after their 2017 and 2018 governorship elections respectively.
And I want to believe that I am vindicated by
Aregbesola’s disposition towards President Tinubu’s presidential ambition four years after my suggestion.
May Allah continue to grant the late Senator Abiola Ajimobi Aljannah Firadus. He did a yeoman’s job in Osun, whereas Aregbesola carried on in that election as if nothing was at stake. Armed with these pieces of information, barely a month after I resumed, I personally reached out to the leadership of R-Connect
and the Progressives E-Group on the need to close ranks and ensure that the progressives do not lose power in Osun. I reminded them that as young people; they had a lot to lose if the APC did not consolidate its hold on power in 2022. I remember telling them that if anything untoward happened, I would return to my job, but that majority of them might have nowhere to return to. “
