Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has confirmed that he might be contesting for a National Assembly seat, specifically the Senate come 2019.
He made the confirmation on Saturday while speakimg at an all night town hall meeting tagged Ogbeni Till Daybreak: A Night with Rauf Aregbesola held in Osogbo.
Asked by a journalist to clear the air on insinuations that he plans to contest for the senate seat from Lagos, Aregbesola said he can contest from anywhere he chooses because he is very popular in Lagos and his home state of Osun.
Aregbesola, before deciding to contest for Osun governorship six years ago, was a commissioner under the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos.
He said that he has served in both states and has paid his dues. And that he can contest anywhere he chooses, whether Osun or Lagos or anywhere else in the South West for a fact that he is a Yoruba man.
His words: “I am as large in Osun as I am large in Lagos. Not many politicians in this country can claim this. So, if I have to contest, I don’t need anybody’s permission. I can contest anywhere”.
He said that his idea about politics is addressing and focusing on the good of the people, irrespective of the method you use. He added that “politics is essentially about resolution of conflict”.
According to the governor, if the Yorubas in the South West take regional integration seriously, they should work for the kind of regional system Nigeria had in the past. He said that that regional spirit is what qualifies him to be able to contest anywhere in the South West.
“Why are we so bothered about where a Yoruba man comes from. We made our biggest successes as a region”, he said.
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He however stressed that no decision has been made yet. He explained that after leaving office in November 2018, he would have months to decide where he would contest.
He stressed that he gives the glory of his popularity to God, former governor of Lagos, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the people of the two states.
