Group calls for Aregbesola, Adeoti’s arrest over alleged electoral fraud in Osun

A socio-political group, Osun Shall Rise Again, OSRA, has called for the immediate arrest and investigation of former Governor of the state, Rauf Aregbesola, and a former Secretary to State Government, SSG, Moshood Adeoti, for electoral fraud.

The group asked Aregbesola, currently the Minister of Interior, to stop playing God over the 2022 gubernatorial poll in the state.

DAILY POST reported that Adeoti revealed how a huge amount of money was paid to the electorate to cast their vote for Gboyega Oyetola during the 2018 guber election.

Adeoti, during a meeting of The Osun Progressive (TOP), a group that encompasses the supporters of the Minister of Interior, in Osogbo on Tuesday said Aregbesola spent a huge amount of money – N50,000 to N100,000 – on each voter during the 2018 Osun re-run election in seven units.

The OSRA said it “watched and listened with amazement the revelation by the former SSG who said Aregbesola told him how he bought the re-run votes in 2018 for between N50,000 and N100,000 in seven polling units. Their arrest will help the proper investigation and where they are found culpable, they should be tried and sentenced appropriately to serve as a deterrent to others.”

In a statement signed by the Chairman and Secretary of the group, Saheed Bakare and Lanre Akeju respectively, OSRA noted that the same set of people ganging up against the governor had done similar things in the past, especially in the build-up to the last primary election in the state and the incumbent governor triumphed, declaring that “we believe it will not be any different this time either.”

The group further called the All Progressives Congress (APC) national level to immediately wield the big stick on the duo of the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Lasun Yusuff, and Adeoti before they do further damage to the image and integrity of the party.

The group said, “Recall that Yusuf was the first person who came out in the open to allege that APC never won the 2018 election in the State. Now, the former SSG is saying Aregbesola told him votes were bought. We believe such characters have no business remaining members of the party. This is why we want them sanctioned.

“By their association openly with Aregbesola on Tuesday, they have shown their hands. But they should know that they are not God. So, they should stop playing God.” the statement read.

In his reaction, the spokesman to the Minister of Interior, Sola Fasure, while speaking to DAILY POST described the OSRA’s call for the arrest of his principal as ridiculous saying the group was sponsored.

He noted that the socio-political group was not intelligent about its assertion by calling for the arrest of a citizen without any tangible evidence against them.

“There are a hundred ways of earning a living, if we investigate this so-called group, you will find out that they are sponsored. The call for the arrest of a citizen is ridiculous without evidence,” he said.