The African Democratic Congress has condemned what it described as a coordinated campaign of intimidation against former Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
The party warned that the attempt to cast him as a traitor to the Yoruba people is dangerous and undemocratic.
Akelicious reports that Aregbesola recently dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress for ADC where he now serves as the national secretary.
In a Monday statement issued by the party’s spokesman, 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 recalled that after the June 12 election crisis, Nigerians collectively decided that supporting a Yoruba man for president would help heal the nation.
“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 comes against the backdrop of the August 14 disruption of the ADC rally in Sagamu, Ogun State, where Aregbesola was billed to lead the campaign for House of Representatives bye-election candidate, Solomon Osho.
Drawing a parallel with history, the ADC spokesman noted that no one accused Bola Tinubu (BAT) of betraying Yoruba interests when he openly challenged Obasanjo’s administration.
“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 therefore questioned the current 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.
Abdullahi alleged that fear of Aregbesola’s political influence was driving the 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.”
The ADC insisted that Aregbesola could defend himself politically but warned against what it termed an assault on democracy.
It further read, “Ogbeni Aregbesola is immensely capable of fighting his own battles. But as a party, we condemn this act of intolerance and assault on freedom. It must cease immediately.”
