As soon as the relied on foot soldier in Bola Tinubu’s political military, Rauf Aregbesola is again on a special battlefield, and this time, he’s serving to to construct an opposition military.
For years, the previous Osun governor used to be thought to be certainly one of Tinubu’s maximum dependable political pals. A vibrant, fiery and fiercely grassroots flesh presser whose upward push throughout the modern motion carried him from Osun’s political trenches to the federal cupboard as Minister of Inside.
However the political winds have shifted.
These days, Aregbesola occupies an excessively other nook of the political chessboard. As Nationwide Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), he’s now not running from inside the All Progressives Congress (APC) circle of relatives that when gave him nationwide prominence. He’s now a part of an opposition coalition positioning itself for the nice political contest of 2027.
And that transformation has added a scrumptious layer of intrigue to the politics of the South-west.
The adventure from dependable lieutenant to opposition strategist didn’t occur in a single day. His political courting with the Tinubu camp had turn into more and more strained, specifically across the politics of Osun and the APC’s inner affairs. By the point Aregbesola brazenly aligned himself with the ADC, what had as soon as been an influential political partnership had turn into a distinctly other political equation.
His stance turned into extra evident all over the 2026 Osun governorship election, when Aregbesola threw his political weight at the back of the ADC candidate, Najeem Salaam. The end result, on the other hand, used to be a long way from the step forward the opposition platform had was hoping for. The ADC completed 3rd, whilst even Aregbesola’s personal polling unit went to the APC.
For a political candidate whose political mythology has at all times been tied to grassroots mobilisation, the symbolism used to be not possible to omit. But Aregbesola, characteristically, didn’t retreat into silence. As an alternative, he congratulated Governor Ademola Adeleke on his re-election, acknowledging the decision of the citizens.
Now, with 2027 beckoning, the person who as soon as stood proudly in President Tinubu’s political camp seems able to throw warning to the wind. He has located himself at the reverse aspect of the barricade, atmosphere the degree for what may turn into an interesting political showdown to be witnessed.