Ahead of tomorrow’s governorship primary election of the Osun State All Progressives Congress (APC), a coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) in the state has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call to order or sack Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola for his role in the crisis rocking the state chapter of the ruling party.
They also urged the party’s leadership to sanction the minister for his uncouth utterances against former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
But the minister said he is a victim of state-organised attacks to smear his image.
He insisted that Governor Gboyega Oyetola was the one causing the crisis for fear of losing the APC governorship ticket.
The CSOs include The Osun Masterminds (TOM), Transparency and Accountability Group (TAG), Centre for Sustainable Dialogue (CSD), Oodua Youth Parliament (OYP), Osun Young Professionals (OSYP), Nigerians for Good Governance (NGG), among others groups.
They accused the minister of causing civil unrest in the state ahead of the party’s governorship shadow poll slated for tomorrow.
Aregbesola has been at loggerheads with his successor over the control of the party’s structure in the state.
Wasiu Oyedokun Alli, who spoke on behalf of the coalition at a media briefing yesterday in Abuja, advised that to forestall the crisis from worsening, stakeholders and good-spirited CSOs in the state wanted the President to take urgent action.
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“If the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari fails to call Rauf Aregbesola to order and charge him to focus on his official responsibilities instead of going about causing civil unrest, he will end up inflaming the otherwise peaceful Osun State.
“Where he cannot be cautioned, we demand his outright sack or redeployment, if he cannot act responsibly in line with the dictates of the office he presently holds. A public officer must never be seen acting contrary to the spirit and provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.
“Where the Federal Government is unable to act swiftly to caution Aregbesola, the Senate of the Federal Republic must show capacity by sanctioning his sack and impressing it on President to effect same. Failure to do this will bring disrepute to the exalted office of the Honourable Minister,” he said.
But dismissing the allegations, Aregbesola, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media, Sola Fasure, urged his supporters to discountenance what he called the rent-a-crowd pseudo-NGOs. “They are misguided,” he said.
The spokesman alleged that the agenda of the state government was to “precipitate a crisis, cause chaos in Osun and disrupt the APC governorship primary election they are poised to lose”.
Fasure added: “They will then heap the blame on the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and call to question his integrity and leadership capacity.”