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FORMER Interior Minister and ex-Governor of Osun State Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and the incumbent Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke have taken their fight to the public domain over who controls the soul of Osun State in 2026 governorship election.
Aregbesola who is currently the Interim National General Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) made statements that stirs up the hornet’s nest while addressing his supporters at the Oranmiyan House, Osogbo on Sunday, July 13, 2025.
While addressing his supporters, Aregbesola said,
“We will take over the Government House in 2026.”
“The people of Osun deserve better. The ADC is here to offer real leadership and transformative governance, not empty promises.”
He continued:
“Let us put personal interests aside and unite. Unity is what we need. We have the presidential, National Assembly, and state elections ahead. The task is big, but if we work together, we will not be defeated.”
“Osun people, you have always stood by me, and I will never forget your sacrifices. The time has come for us to rewrite the story of this state and of our country. With your votes and your voices, ADC will rise, and Nigeria will rise again,” he concluded.
In reaction to Aregbesola’s statement, the Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke lambasted the former Governor of the State describing him as the worst to ever govern Osun State.
In a Press Release signed by the Spokesperson to the Governor, Mallam Olawale Rasheed available to SOJ WORLDWIDE, Adeleke described Aregbesola as wicked.
“Mr Aregbesola’s wickedness against workers, public servants, and Osun people knows no bounds while he wielded state power.”
Adeleke described Aregbesola as a long mouthed rats that smells,
“Pensioners and workers generally are not praying for a return to the evil days of a bad administrator who left his state in ruin after eight years.”
“A man who left a legacy of huge state debt, half salary, scam tablets and several fanciful, inflated, uncompleted projects”, describing his tenure as “the worst in Osun history”
“The empty boast of Mr Aregbesola about 2026 is a symptom of a troubled mind who sees wrong vision, who is battling his benefactor and who is haunted by the pains and suffering he inflicted on millions of Osun people through his evil policies and programmes.
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A man who should be remorseful and tender public apologies for his years of maladministration has the audacity to threaten Governor Adeleke who is clearing the mess left behind by Mr Aregbesola after his eight years of anti-people, thoughtless leadership.
“Mr Aregbesola’s wickedness against workers, public servants, and Osun people knows no bounds while he wielded state power. A man who introduced half salary, misapplied contributory state pension fund and misused state cooperative deductions fund should be ashamed of his temerity to attack a Governor who is now paying up the half salary affliction, clearing the unjustified debt and rehabilitating brutalised Osun workers.
“The Adeleke administration has paid 28 months out of the half salary left behind by Mr Aregbesola. The present administration has paid close to 60 billion naira in pension debt, a legacy of this same Aregbesola. Pensioners and workers generally are not praying for a return to the evil days of a bad administrator who left his state in ruin after eight years.”, the statement noted.
The news release read further:
“Within less than three years, Governor Adeleke has surpassed government delivery of the eight years of Mr Aregbesola without borrowing a kobo for infrastructure projects.
The current administration has reduced Osun debt left by Mr Aregbesola by 40 percent as confirmed by the Debt Management Office.
“Mr Aregbesola is invited to note that Governor Adeleke has constructed about 200 Kilometers of roads, rehabilitated over 200 schools and health centers, placed over 30, 000 pensioners on free health insurance care, provided critical medical surgeries to over 60,000 Osun residents, Completed several abandoned projects at Osun State University, made University of Ilesa a reality among several others.
“If Mr Aregbesola is to accuse Governor Adeleke of non-performance, we await his review of the dualisation of palace to brewery junction at Ilesa which he failed to achieve while in office. He should check out the flyover projects at Ile Ife and Osogbo and the dualisation projects ongoing at Iwo among others.
“Osun people know their present and past Governors. Our people are smart enough to know that the worst era for Osun state is that of Mr Aregbesola under whom many pensioners lost their lives, thousands of lives were disrupted, and the state plunged into unsustainable debt that is still hurting the state till date. No voter in Osun is ready for a return to the dark days.
“We therefore dismiss Mr Aregbesola’s boast as a blurry vision of another world other than Osun where Governor Adeleke has received accolades and awards for delivering on good governance and where Osun people have appreciated the local content policy, the non-borrowing policy, and the people’s first style of the current governor.
“Mr Aregbesola is a shrew (Asin ti o mo pe ohun unrun) who does not know that he is smelling. 2026 is a payback time when Osun people will punish the former Governor and his new party for wilfully inflicting pains and suffering on Osun people throughout his eight years rule”, the statement concluded.
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It would be recalled that in a runup to the 2022 governorship elections, Aregbesola tactically withdrew his support for the second term bidding of former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola to team up with the PDP for Adeleke to win the election.
How and why the table turned against a once cordial relationship is yet to be understood by political watchers.
Osun residents will have to get their fingers crossed and see how political manipulation unfolds in the State of the Living Springs.
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