Senator Ademola Adeleke, the Osun Governor-Elect, has said he did not work with Rauf Aregbesola, the Minister of Interior, during the just concluded gubernatorial election in the state.
In a pre-recorded interview that aired on Monday on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Adeleke said, “I did not work with Aregbesola, I do not even talk to him”.
Nevertheless, Adeleke said he has been in talks with a few associates of the minister, including Kolapo Alimi who used to be a commissioner when Aregbesola was at the helm of affairs in Osun, but eventually defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“During the tribunal, Alimi was one of the lawyers who represented Oyetola then, so anytime I see them in the court, because I am a civilised person, I will go to them and greet them and say how are you, how are you doing.
“It was later that he apologised and he told me he has been thinking ‘why is Senator Adeleke greeting me? We are trying to mess him up and he is still greeting me’.
“I believe Oyetola and Aregbesola fell out and Alimi came to me and said he has watched me and that he wants to join our party and we said come on in.”
Senator Adeleke while asserting that as at the time Aregbesola and Oyetola had fallen out, it was clear that a way to victory had been paved for him.
He, however, stressed that though Aregbesola’s allies might have joined the PDP and worked with him, it is not clear that the minister orchestrated their moves.