- By Safiu Kehinde
There are ripples in the corridor of Nigerian politics as former presidential candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party in the last general election Engr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso on Sunday held a closed door meeting with the former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola.
The meeting which held at the Ikeja, GRA Lagos residence of Aregbesola, also a former Governor of Osun state, was said to have been at the instance of the former Governor of Kano state who pulled out of the Peoples Democratic Party to form the NNPP.
His party won the governorship election in Kano state.
NPO Reports that Aregbesola, who leads a faction of the All Progressive Congress The Omoluabi Progressive in Osun, took his supporters out of the APC two weeks ago after the group announced its exit from the party.
Aregbesola was one of the founding leaders of the APC, which was an offshoot of the Action Congress of Nigeria which merged with other parties ahead of the 2015 general elections.
Since the party’s crisis in Osun pitching him and his successor, Gboyega Oyetola against each other, Aregbesola has played not much roles in the affairs of the party since 2022.
He however rose to help the party shore up its support base in Lagos after the disastrous outing that saw the Labour Party winning the presidential election in Lagos in 2023.
Aregbesola had rallied support for the party in the next governorship election to ensure the victory of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Competent sources close to the former Minister said that he was open to settlements of the intra-party crisis that led to the party’s loss of all elective positions in 2022 governorship and 2023 National and State Assembly elections to the currently ruling Peoples Democratic Party.
Last week the Osun State chapter of the NNPP had extended its invitation to Aregbesola.
Sunday’s meeting with Kwankwaso was believed to be a step further in consolidating an emerging political relationship.
Of his meeting with Aregbesola, Kwankwaso tweeted Sunday evening, “This evening, I had the pleasure to visit the former Governor of Osun State and former Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, at his residence in Lagos. The meeting afforded us the opportunity to engage in discussions on national politics, governance, and the future of Nigeria’s democratic landscape.”
Aregbesola, a close ally of President Bola Tinubu was Commissioner for Works in Lagos state for eight years. He won election in 2007 in Osun but was robbed of his victory.
He approached the court which later awarded him victory after three years legal battles.
He was believed to be the closest political ally of Tinubu until the crisis between him and Oyetola snowballed.
In 2023, two Yoruba traditional rulers, the late Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi and the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi, met in Ibadan with a view to bringing Tinubu and Aregbesola together again. The meeting did not yield fruits as Tinubu did not show up for the meeting.
The disagreement between the two is believed to be the biggest political war between a leader and his loyalist in recent times.
The meeting between Kwankwaso and Aregbesola on Sunday, coming at a time many are talking of possible realignments among political forces in different geo-political zones, has caused ripples with many giving it varying interpretations.