By Akinwale Kasali
Former Lagos State Governor and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has denied any rift or grudges with Former Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
There have been strong rumours that Tinubu and unarguably, his closest ally, and now, Minister for Interior, Aregbesola have fallen apart. The Minister was Tinubu’s Commissioner for Works when he was Lagos State Governor. At the end of his tenure, Tinubu pushed him back to Osun state, and made him Governor. After his two-term tenure, he was Tinubu’s pick for a Ministerial appointment, and has remained his ”Man Friday”, heading, the most influential APC political group in Lagos – The Mandate Group.
Aregbesola is so influential that when things were falling apart for former Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, he ran to Aregbesola for reprieve. It did not, however, save Ambode.
A rift between Tinubu and Aregbesola would certainly shake the Lagos APC.
But, Tinubu, on Tuesday, denied any gift. He made this clarification through his aide, Tunde Rahman, stressing that the Minister of Interior and himself have a healthy relationship.
The APC chieftain described as fake news, reports alleging that the Governor’s Advisory Council, GAC, appropriate and candid resolution doing away with blocs in the party, including, The Mandate, has led to a phantom cold war between him (Tinubu).
In his statement, he said, “Today, the Governor’s Advisory Council, the highest decision-making body within the All Progressives Congress in Lagos State, passed a resolution calling for the disbandment of all factional groups within the party.
“This was to promote discipline, harmony and cohesion and engender party supremacy. The APC is one united political family in Lagos.
“This is a figment of the imagination of the news organization that authored the report. Asiwaju Tinubu remains Ogbeni Aregbesola’s leader. The former governor of Osun State has been unswervingly and wholly committed to the progressive ideology of the Tinubu political family.
“There is no war, cold or hot, between them. There has never been and there will never be. Asiwaju believes in him and he believes in the APC leader.
“Our political family remains strong. And we are staying focused in our commitment to building and maintaining a cohesive political party.
“The GAC is a very strong body within the APC leadership structure in Lagos. Its resolution is not targeted at any particular individual or collection of individuals.
“The resolution was to restate the often-stated position that the only group known to us is APC and not any of the factional groups. It was to renew the commitment to APC and its unity.
“Ogbeni Aregbesola is a strong member of the political family. The GAC position does not imply any division within the group. The resolution is well-meaning and should not be misinterpreted.
“To do so impulsively as the authors of the report has done is to take the frontier of reporting away from facts to the realm of groundless speculations.
