THE Council of Arewa Traditional Rulers in Osun State has dissociated itself from one Imam Bashir Hussein, who reportedly launched the Osun Progressives, a political group within the All Progressives Congress in the state, backed by the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, among the Hausa community in Osun.
In a video obtained in Osogbo, on Tuesday, Hussein, who served as a Senior Special Assistant on Arewa Matters to Aregbesola while he was the state governor, asked members of Arewa Community in Sabo Ile-Ife to join TOP in appreciation to Aregbesola.
Hussein, who spoke in Yoruba at the event said, “Today, we inaugurated a sub-political group in Osun APC called TOP within the Arewa community in Sabo in Ile-Ife. We plan to rotate the meeting among our members.
“Our Serikis are in support of what we are doing. We are not ingrates, he (Aregbesola) has treated us fairly well. We benefitted very well under him, so we must support whatever he supports.
“We have been with Aregbesola for a very long time and we have plans to inaugurate this group earlier, but we thought the rancour (within APC) would be resolved.”
However, speaking with newsmen on behalf of his colleagues after a meeting with the Special Adviser to the governor on Civic Engagement, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye in Osogbo, the Serikin Hausa of Edeland, Alhaji Ibrahim Gambo, who is also the Secretary General to the Council of Arewa Traditional Rulers in Osun, said Hussein expressed a personal opinion.
Gambo said, “We want progress in Osun state. We the members and Seriki Hausa in Osun had pledged our support for Governor Oyetola. The video where Hussein spoke must have been manipulated somewhere. We don’t know about it.”
