TheCable

Adegboyega Oyetola, governor of Osun state, says he bears no grudge against Rauf Aregbesola, former governor of the state, under whom he was chief of staff.

Oyetola, who is seeking a second term, addressed the issue during the governorship election debate organised by Channels Television on Sunday.

The Osun state governor has consistently denied having any rift with the minister of interior.

In February, Aregbesola described the Osun governorship primary election of the APC as a “sham of an election” after Moshood Adeoti, his choice of candidate, lost to Oyetola.

The APC in Osun has two factions: one is loyal to Aregbesola while the other is to Oyetola.

When asked during the debate to clear the air on what some of his critics term a “seeming betrayal” after falling out with his former boss, he dismissed the allegation as false, saying he bears no grudge or animosity.

“When we were doing the debate in 2018, you asked me a question on single uniform policy, ‘people say they don’t want it, when you become the governor, will you scrap it or continue with it?’ It was tough for me to answer that question,” he said.

“What happened was because the people wanted that reform, I went for it. In doing so, we set up a committee to review the education policy and come up with recommendations. That was exactly what we did and implemented.

“I have no particular grudge or animosity against my former boss, so there’s no problem about that. I think most times it is the people around making issues out of nothing. If there’s any difference at all, it’s purely on governance and nothing more.”

Oyetola said he has no regrets about reversing some of the policies made by the past governor despite being part of the government.

“Policies are supposed to be reviewed anyway. There’s a distinction between a legacy and a policy, policies are meant to be reviewed,” he said.