Politics
Oyetola, Aregbesola rift is an embarrassment to South West Muslims — MURIC
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has condemned the rift between the governor of Osun state, Gboyega Oyetola and the minister of interior, Rauf Aregbesola.
The group in a statement on Monday said the rift between the present and former governor of Osun state could ricochet the rumoured presidential ambition of Bola Tinubu.
According to the statement by its director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, MURIC said the face-off “is likely to affect the fortunes of both Aregbesola and Oyetola in the coming gubernatorial election in Osun State this year although they may not acknowledge this fact now as both gladiators are still grandstanding.
“It is also likely to ricochet on the rumoured presidential ambition of their principal, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. A divided camp cannot fight on one front. Neither can it speak with one voice.”
He called the Aregbesola and Oyetola’s attention to the hadith of Prophet Muhammad that two Muslims should not engage in a quarrel beyond three days. “The one who first extends greetings to the other is the better Muslim.”
Last year, Oyetola had tried to clarify the reason for the rift between them.
According to him, there might be “little disagreements” but there was nothing personal between the two of them.
He, however, said that possible areas of disagreement could have been in respect of disparities and changes in some policies and programmes his government inherited from the Aregbesola administration.
“Let me say this, Ogbeni and I are brothers, yes, we can have little disagreements; these are not unexpected.
“You mentioned the issue of tinkering with some policies of education, which in any case was desirable by the people.
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”Some could misinterpret this to mean something else. We did it in good faith and in line with the demand of the people and we followed due process to do that.
“Like I mentioned, policies are supposed to be reviewed from time to time.
” I have had cause to reverse myself even as a governor.
” That’s part of life. That thing was unduly exaggerated by some people, giving different meanings to it.
” That doesn’t change the fact that we are brothers. I hate people saying we are quarrelling. There’s no basis for it. We are not quarrelling at all.
‘’I don’t know why people are always asking me if he’s going to support my second term election. Well… I have said that he is my brother and I believe he will want to ensure my success.
” Without quantifying it, I put in my best for the eight years of his success.
” That is the much that I can say.
“I don’t want to go into specifics, all I know is that, yes some people are aggrieved for different reasons and it is natural.
” You do appointments and some people believe they should be part of it, but they are not; they become aggrieved. But that doesn’t mean that what you have done is wrong.
“Naturally, we could have a few disagreements even in politics. Fixing of conflicts is part of politics; we can find a way of conflict resolution and move on.
“We have actually set up a committee on reconciliation; to see people who are genuinely aggrieved and to be brought back to the same single family that we used to be.
” I believe with time, we should be able to achieve that,’’ he said.
