The spokesperson for the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Bolaji Abdullahi, has said it is disgraceful that former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, and other Yoruba leaders in the opposition are being demonised.

Abdullahi's words come on the heels of a reported stoning suffered by Aregbesola when he went to Ogun State to campaign for the ADC days before last Saturday's by-election in the state.

According to Abdullahi, President Bola Tinubu never faced such a fate when he played the opposition during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He said in a statement, "It is incredible to see the zeal with which some President BAT supporters are trying to mobilise the Yoruba and South West people against Ogbeni @RaufAregbesola for merely exercising his democratic rights and choosing to stand with the Nigerian people. This is sheer perfidy and should be condemned.

"In the aftermath of the June 12 election crisis, Nigerians, in an unprecedented act of political consensus, thought that the best way to heal the country and strengthen national unity was to support a Yoruba man to become President. Nigerians overwhelmingly voted for President Obasanjo. No one challenged Obasanjo and his Federal Government more vociferously than BAT, who almost made Lagos State an alternative source of power—rightly so. Yet, no one accused BAT of treachery against the Yoruba race, even when he antagonised Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-cultural group. We, therefore, have strong doubts that Asiwaju would approve of what is being done in his name today.

"Attempts to demonise Aregbesola and other Yoruba leaders in the opposition are undemocratic and disgraceful. They are also inimical to the long-term political interests of the Yoruba people. President BAT is not the South West, and the South West is not him."

He said the situation gives the impression that Tinubu’s people are so afraid of Aregbesola that they are throwing everything at him—even recruiting Sunday Igboho, a self-declared ethnic warlord, into the fight.

"But the narrative they are creating is that tribal and personal loyalty is more important to the Yoruba than the national interest. This is wrong and dangerous.

"Ogbeni Aregbesola is immensely capable of fighting his own battles. But as a party, we condemn this act of intolerance and assault on freedom. It must cease immediately," he said.

ASA