The Governor of Osun state and the governorship candidate of Accord Party in the Saturday’s election, Senator Ademola Adeleke has described a former governor of the state, Olagunsoye Oyinlola as a paperweight politician.
Adeleke stated this on Tuesday in Osogbo during a Town Hall meeting organised by the ARISE TV for the three prominent governorship candidates in the August 15 election.
He added that he was not bothered that the former Governor of the state, Olagunsoye Oyinlola has decided to throw his way behind the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Munirudeen Oyebamiji, describing him as a paperweight politician.
He recalled that his late brother, Isiaka Adeleke, brought Oyinlola into politics and asked him to contest for the Osun governorship election in 2003.
Adeleke explained that his family had always supported Oyinlola, but when he wanted to contest for Senate, Oyinlola didn’t support him and also when he decided to contest for governorship in 2018, he didn’t support him.
He said: “In 2022, he did not support me. He went to go and bring the former Secretary to the State Government, (Fatai) Akinbade. Throughout Osun State, they have only 7000 votes, and he was the one campaigning for him all over.
“He’s from Odo-Otin local government, Okuku. In his hometown, I always beat him there. His unit, I beat him there. All he does is talk, talking proverbs. Is it proverb that people will come and vote for?
“And when immediately I won, he came back to me, saying, “oh, don’t let us fight.” I said okay, no problem, because I have a forgiving spirit. He complained to me, he doesn’t have a car, and I gave him a new car. He collected a new car. Then he went to APM again. From APM two days ago, maybe the APC has given you money or whatever. He changes again that he will not support me.
“He’s a paperweight, I’m not worried about him. That it’s not going to affect anything.
Adeleke urged the people to make sure they come out to vote on Saturday and also protect their votes.
He said only the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agencies can guarantee whether the election would be free and fair.
On the allegations of vote buying against him, the governor said he has no reason to buy votes, stressing that his achievements would speak for him.
He said the money he gave the civil servants in the state was mere palliatives which his administration has been doing long before the election.