Osun State Rauf Aregbesola visited Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose in Ado Ekiti on Saturday on the invitation of Fayose for the 20th Anniversary of Ekiti State where he delivered a lecture entitled, “The imperative of unity.”
The governor at the event complained that the biting economic problem was such that in the whole of the South-West region, only Lagos State could stand on its own.
He canvassed regional integration and cooperation as well as the revival of agriculture as some of the steps to ameliorate the situation.
Aregbesola at the event described Fayose as omoluabi and a hardworking governor who had turned around the fortunes of Ekiti State in terms of infrastructure.
Social media reports quoted Aregbesola as saying that “Fayose is a reliable person” and that in spite of political differences, he and Fayose shared many things in common, and that “sooner than later, there will be realignment of forces.”
But the APC did not find Aregbesola’s visit funny as the state Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, in a statement on Monday stressed that the visit showed contempt into which the party and its leaders were held by the Osun State governor after Fayose had caused severe pains in the lives of APC members, some of whom had been languishing in jail for about two years for the offences they did not commit.
He said, “Aregbesola’s visit to Fayose, praising him as ‘omoluabi’ and for the achievements by APC-led government is not alone embarrassing but also awful in the face of sustained attacks on APC members, some of whom are still languishing in jail for about two years over trumped-up charges by Fayose.
“It is shocking that Aregbesola as a governor and one of the leading lights in the APC in the South West and indeed the nation would be visiting Ekiti State without putting the leaders into confidence, more so on a visit to a man who once wished the President dead and had done unbelievable things both in Nigeria and abroad to bring Buhari’s government down.
“Worse still, Aregbesola was praising the man who will stop at nothing to bring APC-led Federal Government down after several years of failed attempts by the progressives to win the presidency of Nigeria.”
“We also find it spiteful that Aregbesola would sit with Fayose on this same programme where the latter berated Buhari to no end, including describing the President’s programmes as a theory that is compounding problems for Nigerians.”
Warning that the state leaders would resist any attempt to draft the governor into any realignment with APC in the state and foist him on the party, Olatunbosun noted that Fayose had done enough damage to the integrity of Ekiti people according to reports from Punch.
He added that the time had come now for the real omoluabi in Ekiti to join forces to rebuild the ruins into which Fayose’s administration had left the state.