A former governor of Ogun state, Aremo Olusegun Osoba says he bowed to pressure of his followers and shared N140million to electorate on the eve of the 20003 governorship election.
Daily Trust reports that Osoba speaking at the book launch and 60th birthday of his former Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Kayode Odunaro, on Wednesday, January 19, in Abeokuta, Ogun state, revealed how he was “rigged out of office” during the guber poll.
According to Osoba, he had received an intelligence report about the rigging and was advised to back out of the poll, Sahara Reporters added.
However, he insisted on going ahead in the poll which he contested on the platform of the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD).
Osoba who lost to Otunba Gbenga Daniel of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said he knew he would lose following last-minute reports from security agents.
The veteran journalist also said despite the last revelations and evidence at his disposal he refused to challenge the outcome of the election at the tribunal, adding that he had put the experience behind him.
He said:
“Some of the security people had given me the figure of the result that they were going to announce and I knew, he was referring to me spending money and some people taking my money to sleep in hotels, pocketed the money, I knew because in politics you must learn to engage in wasteful spending and you must learn to buy all kinds of lies, that is all part of politics.
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“We shared N140million on the eve of the election and I knew it was a wasted money, but I shared it because if didn’t share it, they will say if I had not given them the money, they would have won.”
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