The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned attacks channelled against the former Minister of interior, Rauf Aregbesola.
The coalition party also accused supporters of President Bola Tinubu of working towards mobilising the people of the South West against the former minister for exercising his democratic rights.
In a statement issued on Monday, the interim national publicity secretary of the ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi said Aregbesola has chosen to stand with the people of Nigeria.
He said, “In the aftermath of the June 12 election crisis, 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. 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.
“We therefore have strong doubts that Asiwaju would approve of what is being done in his name today,” Abdullahi noted.
He stated that it is unfortunate that supporters of the president and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are going this route.
According to Abdullahi, the attack on the former minister and other leaders is also a clear indication that those within the ruling party are afraid of the opposition.
“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.
“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 are more important to the Yoruba than the national interest. This is wrong and dangerous.
“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,” he added.