 has criticised what it described as deliberate campaign of intimidation targeted at former Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.){kind=link}
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticised what it described as deliberate campaign of intimidation targeted at former Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
The party cautioned against attempts to brand Aregbesola as a traitor to the Yoruba people, describing such efforts as both dangerous and undemocratic.
Aregbesola, who recently left the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the ADC, currently serves as the party’s national secretary.
In a statement issued on Monday by its spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said it was “incredible to see the zeal with which some President BAT supporters are trying to mobilise the Yoruba and South West people against Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for merely exercising his democratic rights and choosing to stand with the Nigerian people.
“This is sheer perfidy and should be condemned.”
Abdullahi, while recalling the June 12 election crisis, said Nigerians had once collectively agreed that supporting Yoruba candidate for president was the best way to unite the country.
“Nigerians, in an unprecedented act of political consensus, thought that the best way to heal the country and strengthen national unity was to support a Yoruba man to become President. Nigerians overwhelmingly voted for President Obasanjo,” he said.
The statement followed the disruption of the ADC rally in Sagamu, Ogun State, on August 14, where Aregbesola was scheduled to lead the campaign for House of Representatives bye-election candidate, Solomon Osho.
Abdullahi also drew parallels with history, pointing out that Bola Tinubu (BAT) had openly challenged former President Olusegun Obasanjo without being accused of betraying Yoruba interests.
“No one challenged Obasanjo and his Federal Government more vociferously than BAT, who almost made Lagos State an alternative source of power—rightly so.
“Yet, no one accused BAT of treachery against the Yoruba race, even when he antagonised Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-cultural group.”
He further criticised ongoing efforts to demonise Aregbesola.
“We therefore have strong doubts that Asiwaju would approve of what is being done in his name today.
“Attempts to demonise Aregbesola and other Yoruba leaders in the opposition are undemocratic and disgraceful.
“They are also inimical to the long-term political interests of the Yoruba people. President BAT is not the South West, and the South West is not him,” he stated.
The ADC spokesman also alleged that fear of Aregbesola’s growing political influence was behind the smear campaign.
“The impression one gets is that Tinubu’s people are so afraid of Aregbesola that they are throwing everything at him—even recruiting Sunday Igboho, a self-declared ethnic warlord, into the fight.
“But the narrative they are creating is that tribal and personal loyalty is more important to the Yoruba than the national interest. This is wrong and dangerous.”