Aremo Segun Osoba, a former Governor of Ogun State, and his loyalists in the All Progressives Congress (APC) have reacted to the purported claims that he and his political family were against the nominees of the state by President Bola Tinubu in the newly-constituted Board of the South West Development Commission (SWDC).
Their position, as reported by the Online, was contained in a statement signed on Osoba’s behalf by Hon. Adekunle Adeyemi, a former House of Representatives member.
In the statement made available to newsmen on Monday, Osoba also issued a stern warning to name-droppers and impostors.
The elder statesman and his political family declared that their position on the board’s composition aligned perfectly with that of President Bola Tinubu and Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State.
It will be recalled that a section of the media had claimed that there was disquiet in Ogun State as the Osoba camp rejected the SWDC composition over alleged non-inclusion of his allies: former Deputy Governor Segun Adesegun and a former Commissioner for Finance, Samuel Durojaiye, in the President’s recent board appointments.
The reports indicated that an aggrieved faction, comprising veteran APC members, held an emergency meeting at the Abeokuta GRA residence of Akinrogun Osoba to protest what they described as the systematic exclusion of Osoba’s allies from key federal appointments.
Miffed by the publication, the former governor and his political disciples emphasised that the so-called disquiet “is nothing but an illusion that is borne out of the hallucinations of the pretenders who were signatories of the statement”.
The statement partly read: “The attention of the elder statesman and former governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osiba and his political disciples in the State have been drawn to a publication in some traditional Media giving the impression of a purported ‘disquiet’ in the political family of the two-time governor over the nominee of Ogun State in the newly constituted Board of the South West Development Commission.
“This is to emphatically put on record that the so-called ‘disquiet’ is nothing but an illusion that is borne out of the hallucinations of the pretenders who were signatories of the statement.
“The former governor and his genuine followers not only support the Ogun State nominee on the Board, they believe, without reservation, that the representative of the State on the Board will add value to the Renewed Hope Agenda.
“The Osoba Political Family is also of the conviction that Mr. President has the discretion, following due consultations, to zero in on nominees who will drive the appropriate aspirations for the betterment of the Nigerian nation.
“The political group, for example, called attention to the nomination of another indigene of the Gateway State on the Board of the South-South Development Commission to buttress its point, the Osoba Political Family submitted that the position of the President is always known to be in pursuit of equity, fair play and justice in line with his long cherished political trajectory.
“This is a principle that is, over the years, associated with President Tinubu, stressing that the Osoba Political Family remains aligned to our governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, over the nomination of the State for the Board.
“An appeal is also being made to the media to always do the due diligence by going the extra mile over materials at its disposal to ascertain the authenticity of news items emanating from name-droppers and impostors, or impersonators.”
The statement concluded that there is no umbrella for Aremo Olusegun Osoba and his followers known as “Osoba group”, explaining that the true and sincerely genuine followers of the former governor belong to the Osoba Political Family.
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