The nomination of former members of the disbanded The Osun Progressives (TOP) as members of Governor Ademola Adeleke’s cabinet has been attributed by media to former Governor Rauf Aregbesola, according to Reverend Adelowo Adebiyi, a former chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Osun State.

Adebiyi, in a statement he signed on Sunday described the allegation as mere blackmail.

It was earlier reported that the APC chairman in the state, Tajudeen Lawal, alleged that the nomination of Kolapo Alimi and Biyi Odunlade was a confirmation that TOP had worked with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Adeleke to sabotage erstwhile governor, Adegboyega Oyetola’s chances during the 2022 guber election.

Recall that on Friday, the list of cabinet nominees for the state was made public by the Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Adewale Egbedun.

Among the 25 names on the list, Alimi and Odunlade had been mentioned, and both individuals were once cabinet members in the Rauf Aregbesola administration.

Also, both men, before decamping to the Osun PDP before the Osun gubernatorial election, were members of TOP.

TOP, before it was disbanded in December 2022, was a group within the Osun APC which enjoyed the active support of Aregbesola, former Interior Minister, and two-term governor of the State.

In the statement, Adebiyi said, “The nomination of Barr. Kolapo Alimi and Dr Biyi Odunlade were not connected with the defunct TOP or Aregbesola, saying that Alimi is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while it had also been speculated that Odunlade had joined PDP some months ago.

“Reports of ‘compensation’ as being circulated are baseless and untrue. It is a plot by the IleriOluwa group to further paint the former Minister of Interior and his loyalists black before rational members of the APC.

“We had for long noticed the wicked moves by the IleriOluwa gladiators to continue their fruitless onslaught on Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola with the intention of painting him black before well-meaning and rational leaders and members of the APC.

“But as they continue in their evident journey of political perdition, so is Aregbesola’s popularity soaring. We advise the IleoriOluwa gladiators to stop chasing shadows.

“Of course, we can’t deny the fact that the two gentlemen were TOP members, but we state in categorical terms that they must have earned their nominations by their merits and not on behalf of defunct TOP or as a “compensation” as mischievously reported by the pro-IleriOluwa caucus reporters.

“We reiterate that this is yet another opportunity for the political loafers in Ilerioluwa group to attempt to blackmail defunct TOP members and Aregbesola, and we are not in any doubt that they will continue to agonise over their woeful but avoidable loss of the July 16, 2022 governorship and the 2023 general elections.”