𝗗𝗲𝗯𝘂𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗮 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗧𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗢𝗳 𝗟𝗶𝗲𝘀 (𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 2).

𝗕𝘆 𝗞𝗼𝗹𝗮 𝗢𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗷𝘂

"Tell no lies, claim no easy victories" - Amilcar Cabral. 

A good writer or anyone who cherishes personal integrity must make claims with facts and figures that are not disputable. This is what I try to do as much as possible in my writings as l do have the opening quote above by the late Guinean revolutionary in mind always. This is not so for the ilk of Shola Fasure who believe they can just wake up one day and come up with unsubstantiated claims and that such will go unchallenged. I pity people in this category a lot as they compromise their integrity through propagation of falsehood thereby giving way to the law of diminishing returns to take effect in their lives; thus having their good name or the respect people have for them to get gradually faded away. 

The first point l like to make that put lie to Fasure's claim that it was Rauf Aregbesola that made Tinubu (PBAT) and not the other way round is a past video which is now trending again in the wake of Fasure's false claim where Ogbeni Aregbesola said that after God, Tinubu is next as he was the one God used to uplift him in life; that he owes whatever he's today to God, and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. If Fasure's paymaster could utter these words from his own mouth, isn't it a contradiction in terms therefore for Fasure to have come out to say that Aregbesola was the one who made Tinubu? Having heard the truth from the horse's mouth was Fasure trying to tell the public that Aregbesola is a liar and that he knows better than his paymaster? Gosh! Maybe I need someone to educate me more here please. 

Fasure did mention it in his fabrications that Aregbesola made Tinubu not only the Governor in Lagos but also Senator. Some certain questions are to be asked here viz; how could Aregbesola whose name was totally obscured from public life as at the time Tinubu was already a treasurer at the international oil organization, Mobil, be the one who made Tinubu? How could someone who was living in penury when Tinubu was funding the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), the pro-democracy organization that was in the forefront of the demilitarization struggles of the nineties be the one who made Tinubu? How could Aregbesola who couldn't make himself politically (as he contested for House of Rep. election in the early nineties and lost woefully) be the one who made Tinubu? How could someone who was just an ordinary Personal Assistant to Sir Ayo Akinyemi in Alimosho local government then have made Tinubu an internationally recognized pro-democracy activist? 

How on earth could Aregbesola who was just a refrigerator repairer and who was not worth more than N30, 000 (thirty thousand naira) in 1998/99 (monthly allowance as a BATCO staff) have made Tinubu, an accomplished administrator and successful business man even before he contested for Senate in 1992? It's worth mentioning at this juncture that the monthly allowance of the senior campaign staff to Tinubu then including Aregbesola was thirty thousand naira until the inauguration. So is that the man who, in Fasure's figment of imagination, made Tinubu who was already sponsoring candidates for governorship and other electoral positions  before he now eventually ventured into politics?

In fact, we can go on and on asking questions that make nonsense of Fasure's claims.

It's a widely known fact that Aregbesola came to Tinubu as a total pauper and there are evidences to back this assertion. He joined the Sunday Adigun Group (Sunday Adigun was the campaign headquarters of the Bola Hammed Tinubu Campaign Organization, BATCO) in 1998/99. It was the name used to prosecute the governorship campaign of Senator Bola Tinubu and for those who didn't know, we had already formed that name before Aregbesola joined us. 

Aregbesola came with one ramshackle Mistibishu Gallant car which this writer and some other people used to assist him in pushing before it could start. This is not a blackmail but a fact which people can testify to. Readers are free to fact-check please.

What's more? When after the governorship election had been won and Tinubu became the governor-elect, he (Tinubu) told us that we had to be dressing well to the office. He even dashed us some of his corporate wears including nice, beautiful ties which we shared amongst ourselves (but Aregbesola didn't take from them as he wasn't, and still not used to English dresses). But the point l like to make here is that he told us point blank that "where does His Excellency (Tinubu) want me to get good dresses? Me that l'm owing two years house rent". Aregbesola used to wear ordinary Jalamia and one guinea brocade to office then. And that was why one of our women leaders in Ikeja, Alhaja Ayilara by name, (now late) sent four different types of fine guinea brocade materials to him then through one of us, comrade Kayode Bello popularly known as 'Oyinbo BATCO' who's still alive today to the glory of Almighty God and can testify to my claim here. 

Also, Yeye Remi Tinubu (now the Nigerian First Lady) gave appreciation gift of a roll of guinea brocade materials each to all the campaign staff after winning the governorship election. It was the one given to Aregbesola (colour brown) with our campaign staff cap, that he wore on the day of inauguration at the Tafa Balewa Square (TBS). So this is the true story of Aregbesola that "made Tinubu" in Fasure's reckoning. Isn't it more than funny? 

Fasure needs to know (or maybe he knows but only pretended not to know) that during the senatorial election of Senator Bola Tinubu, Rauf wasn't in the picture at all as it coincided with his own election too and apart, he didn't really have free access to Tinubu's campaign office then. Alhaji Rahaman Owokoniran, also a strong politician in Lagos, was the DG for the Tinubu senatorial campaign. So isn't it preposterous for Fasure to claim that Aregbesola made Tinubu a senator? What a distasteful statement? 

Again, that Rauf was the Director of Organization for BATCO in 1998/99 isn't enough for Fasure to conclude that he made Tinubu the governor in Lagos. What an awkward reasoning? Rauf was the DG for BATCO though, was it him alone that did the work? Can a single tree make a forest? Rauf, Asiwaju Tinubu's immediate staff at Sunday Adigun and several other members of BATCO across the state all worked collectively to make Tinubu the Governor in Lagos but not a solo effort. And mention needs to be made also, of Tinubu's credibility as a frontline pro-democracy activist, a factor that aided our efforts in no small measure because he was more popular and more acceptable to the people than other candidates. 

Thanks for reading and watch out for part three the concluding part.

Shalom!