The prolonged stay of Mr. Gboyega Oyetola, the former governor of Osun state, in Saudi Arabia is tied to his effort to meet the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, over the pending appeal on the Osun governorship poll before the Supreme Court, this newspaper has learnt.
Mr. Oyetola departed Nigeria for Saudi Arabia about three weeks ago for the lesser Hajj but inside sources confided in this newspaper that the real purpose of the former governor’s trip was to meet and persuade his uncle, Mr. Tinubu, to influence the outcome of the Supreme Court judgement.
Mr. Oyetola who had embarked on the trip with his wife, Mrs. Kafayat Oyetola, took to the option of meeting Mr. Tinubu in Saudi Arabia as a last resort to get him to back him on the pending case after several attempt to reach him had failed.
One of the sources informed that Mr. Oyetola had made several efforts to reach Mr. Tinubu since he left Nigeria for vacation in Europe without success. It was gathered that Mr. Tinubu was not showing any interest in the Osun case and had confided in close associates to resolve not to do anything that will tamper with the will of Osun people.
It would be recalled that Mr. Tinubu had turned down entreaties from a delegation of APC leaders in Osun state led by Chief Adebisi Akande during a meeting at the Defense House sometime in March to influence the judiciary to award the state to Mr. Oyetola. Mr. Tinubu, who reminded the delegation of his new status as ‘Leader of All’, refused to do anything that will hurt the people of Osun state.
“What followed after was the Appeal Court setting aside the Tribunal judgement and affirmed the election of Governor Ademola Ademola,” the source noted.
But Mr. Oyetola, another source noted, appeared determined to return as Osun governor irrespective of the circumstance, and wanted to do anything to convince Mr. Tinubu to influence the Supreme Court judgement in his favour.
“Alhaji (Oyetola) is not letting go, and he is doing everything to get Asiwaju to consent to his wish,” the source shared. “This is more reason why he went for Umrah because he believe he can get him (Asiwaju) there after failing to get him in Europe.”
It was however unclear whether Mr. Oyetola was able to meet Mr. Tinubu in Saudi Arabia as he had planned, or whether the president-elect agreed to his request to manipulate the judiciary to circumvent the will of the people. Mr. Tinubu has for long flaunted his democratic credentials, and it remains to be seen if he will throw away that perception just to aid his nephew’s interest.
Even more, the whereabouts of the president-elect is shrouded in controversy. While some people claimed that Mr. Tinubu is unable to make the Saudi Arabia trip due to health issues, people close to the president-elect dismissed those claims as untrue.
The controversy got to an height last week when a close associate of Mr. Tinubu, Mr. San Omatseye shared a picture purporting that President Muhammadu Buhari and the president-elect met in Saudi Arabia. However, the meeting was later found to be untrue as the event portrayed in the picture happened in Abuja in 2019.