Lasun Yusuff, a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, claims that the 2018 Osun gubernatorial election was rigged and that the agents involved were suitably compensated with lucrative jobs in the current administration.
Yusuff disclosed on a radio current affairs program in Osogbo on Friday that he was not a violent man when he made a statement in Abuja after the acquisition of his gubernatorial nomination forms at the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Secretariat in Abuja.
He stated that by stressing that “no man born of a woman can rig him out in the next election,” he meant that anybody planned to rig the 2022 governor election, which would be a replay of the rigging of the 2018 gubernatorial race, would face God’s judgment.
He further stated that his speech was a warning to politicians not to be a nuisance or criminal, and that any act of rigging would result in the offenders being hunted down.
The former Deputy Speaker, who claimed the 2018 Osun gubernatorial election was rigged, said the processes up to the rerun, as well as President Muhammadu Buhari’s claim that the election was remotely controlled, were all indicators that the APC did not win the race fairly.
He encouraged anyone who wished to question him on his claim to do so, but warned that doing so would lead to the party’s demise.
The Ilobu politician added that he gets along well with both Rauf Aregbesola, the state’s former governor, and Adegboyega Oyetola, the current governor.
In his words, “Rauf Aregbesola did well in claiming Osun for the progressives having led from the frontline. He is three things to me; he is my elder brother, friend and confidant.
“When I wanted to contest as Deputy Speaker, he called me and told me he may not support me on that but while I wanted to contest the 2018 Osun gubernatorial election, he did not say anything to me. At first, I held it against him but as for now, it is all in the past.
“When Governor Adegboyega Oyetola had a meeting with me, I told him to go round, meet the people and address aggrieved members of the party. I advised him to leave governance for a while so that he can bring the party together and I also asked him why he was disagreeing with Rauf Aregbesola.
“I told him that since both of them are from the same camp, he settle his differences with him. I don’t know if he took my counsel or not.”
While explaining that he doesn’t believe in grouping within the party, the former number six man in the country disclosed that The Osun Progressives (TOP), a faction within the APC in Osun had members who were seasoned politicians and who also have the interest of the party at heart.
Meanwhile, the Osun State All Progressives Congress has described the statement credited to the former Deputy Speaker House of Representatives as spineless and lacking substance.
In a statement by the Osun APC spokesperson, Barrister Kunle Oyatomi, the party dismissed the statement in totality adding that such claims could only come from a very desperate, dishonourable, and selfish politician, seeking public attention by misleading the citizenry.
Oyatomi noted that Yusuf is seriously in need of medical examination as there is no iota of truth in his incoherent allegation, and the onus of proof is his responsibility.
The APC also challenged him to come straight with the facts and figures to contradict what is known to all Nigerians and the law of the land.
