Today, our discourse on the emergent leadership of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, zeroes in on Rauf Aregbesola, a progressive socialist politician who, following his impactful contributions as a member of the National Opposition Coalition group, has assumed the position of the interim national secretary of the repositioned ADC party .
Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola: the quintessential Omoluabi, anti-nepotist, and socialist idealist
Personal Attributes, Social Engagement & Characteristics:
Born in1957,Rauf Aregbesola, is the interim national secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the party of the coalition of opposition politicians of the country. From his undergraduate days when he was Speaker of the Students’ Parliament (1977-1978) at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, where he studied Mechanical Engineering Technology, through the time he worked as the commissioner for works and infrastructure in Lagos state between 1999-2007, to his serving as a two-term governor of Osun state between 2007-2015, and as the federal minister interior between 2015-2023, Ogbeni, as he wish to be addressed, has kept true to his credentials as a leftist, pro-people progressive. His leftist activism started from when he was made president of the Black Nationalist Movement at the Ibadan polytechnic, and he used the position to vigorously support other progressive students’ movements in the country. Post graduation, the student unionist turned a pro-democracy and human rights activist, and was a major participant in the Nigeria’s pro-democracy struggles of the 1990s that forced the military out of government, and returned the country to democratic governance. Following this, Ogbeni Aregbesola became a full time politician. He joined the socialist Alliance for Democracy (AD) party, from where he has steadily climbed up the political ladder, stepping upward, from being the Director of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Campaign Organisation (BATCO), a position in which he coordinated the electoral victory of Bola Tinubu in 1999 governorship election, he has gone on to serve in exalted political offices, including as a state commissioner, a state governor, and a federal cabinet minister.
A quintessential ‘Omoluabi’, Rauf Areregbesola is an unrepentant progressive socialist. His pro-people orientation and his collectivistic leanings are attributes that stands him apart and endears him to the Nigerian masses who are enamored by his hard work, honesty, integrity, fairness, egalitarianism, respect of others, and fear of God; the ethos of the Omoluabi philosophy, and are flocking to join the Omoluabi movement which he founded.
A man of iron-clad will, Aregbesola is a strong believer in his ethical convictions, and is willing to forego privileges, including his freedom and personal liberties, defending his pro-people and Omoluabi principles. Thus, he could sacrifice decades long association with his erstwhile political ally and benefactor, President Bola Tinubu, in defense of his principled opposition to nepotistic favoritism and unfair impositions which Tinubu indulged himself when, as leader of their ACN party, he forced the selection of his cousin to be Aregbesola’s successor as governor of Osun state against the will of state stakeholders and party members.
Earlier, before becoming governor, he had severally suffered police detentions and near assassinations, in his fight against political intimidation, election fraud, and in defense of democracy.
A passionate ideologue, Ogbeni Aregbesola is a socialist oriented leader who is given to fairness. Though considerate of alternate ideas and opinions, he is a consensus builder who prefers to act in the best interest of the ordinary people. Thus, he often finds himself at odds with leaders who are inclined to anti-people policies, dictatorial tendencies, and who play and act ‘god’ over others.
Political Vision, Ideological Stance & Leadership Engagement
A left leaning progressive, Aregbesola is a founding member of the leftist Alliance for Democracy (AD) party, and has remained in the party all through its several mergers and transfigurations, in which it has changed first, from AD to the AC, then to ACN and than APC, the country’s present federal ruling party. But as it seems, each transformation came at the expense of the socialist and progressive ideas of the original AD party, which were systematically diluted and progressively eroded.
Finally, With the APC turning into an extreme rightist reactionary party, and the ethnocentric federal government it presently runs implementing the most draconian anti-people policies ever seen in the country, and which has visited extreme poverty, hunger and despair on the Nigerian populace, it came as no surprise when Aregbesola, a pro-people progressive, choose to join the National Opposition Coalition Group, which consist of prominent political leaders across the country who have resolved to work to rescue the country from the nepotistic mal-governance of the APC.
Ogbeni Aregbesola’s appointment as the de-facto leader of the opposition coalition in the South West zone of the country, a status that makes him responsible for organizing and managing the growth and expansion of the opposition’s platform in the states of the south west, the historical hotbed of socialist and progressive politics in country, is a recognition of his mass appeal as a pro-people progressive leader. Following the adoption of the African Democratic Party (ADC) as the political party of the unified opposition, Ogbeni Aregbesola emergence as the national secretary of the party, is a further acknowledgment of his administrative competence and consensus building leadership style.
As a leader who started out as a pro-democracy activist and anti-dictatorship crusader, Aregbesola’s believe is that politics is meant to be a force for the good of the majority, and that since political parties are supreme in a democracy, then they must be in control of the governments they form, ensuring that the government stands for and with the people in the promotion of their interests and aspirations. Therefore, the situation where the APC party he once belong to was turned into a one-man led fiefdom, in which party rules and regulations are observed in breach, and at the pleasures of a god-acting overlord who is running a nepotistic ethnocentric government, replete with extreme right anti-people policies, which are against everything the omoluaba philosophy stands for, is an incomprehensible situation for Ogbeni Aregbesola.
Thus, following his emergence as the national secretary of the repositioned ADC, he has vowed to “work to build a party that has a clear ideological compass, a party that is absolutely committed to the people, rooted in democratic values, rule of law, social justice, accountability, transparency and national development. A party that listens and works for to the people, not only during elections, but every single day”. Promising to model international best practices in party organization, administration, and ethics, he has invited his past and present associates, and all Nigerians who truly love democracy, to join the ADC, and work with him to build the party into “an institution where Internal democracy is not just preached but practiced; Intra-party competition is transparent, fair, and just; All party structures from the ward to the national level function effectively and efficiently; Young people, women, and the marginalized have a real voice, not symbolic inclusion; All special and critical interests(security, educators, farmers, workers, women, youth, professionals, people with special needs, etc., must be recognized and allowed to have autonomous structures within the party”.
Ever an advocate of discipline and ethics, shortly after his inauguration as the governor of Osun state, Aregbesola embarked on the rebranding of the State by naming the citizens of the state “Omoluabi”, and driving a strong campaign in which he rallied all citizens of the state to embrace the ethos and values of a true Omoluabi.
Living true to the fairness, justice, and equality ethos of Omoluabi, which are essential ingredients for social harmony and peaceful coexistence in society, Aregbesola introduced the Isese Day as a public holiday for traditional worshipers to celebrate like the Christians and Muslims have their special holidays. Similarly, the supports he shows for fiscal federalism and for regional integration as a means of attaining sustainable economic development and national competitiveness in Nigeria can also be explained in the context of the fairness, justice and equality ethos of Omoluabi.
Thus, while often misjudged as some fiery revolutionary, Ogbeni Aregbrsola’s progressive approaches to leadership are basis in his conviction that inequality, injustice, and ethical deficits are inimical to the socioeconomic stability of the country. This is why as governor of Osun state, he pioneered groundbreaking social investment programs, such as the Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health (O-MEALS) program, in which about 252,000 elementary school pupils were fed daily. The scheme which engages 3000 women community caterers and thousands of smallholder farmers, and which led to significant increases in school attendance, has won several endorsements, including from the World Bank and other world bodies, and is being used as the template for the current Federal Government’s National School Feeding Scheme.
The Aregbesola administration also pioneered a statewide cash transfer scheme called “Agba Osun” through which the state was able to lift many citizens out of poverty. Related to this, to protect families’ income, and to reduce the expenditures of parents on school text books, Aregbesola’s government paid the external examination fees for all public senior secondary schools and introduced the ‘Opon-Imo’ (Tablet of Knowledge) hand-held mobile device through which all the recommended school textbooks and learning contents were delivered to thousands of high school students. Like the Omeals program,’ Opon Imo’ has been lauded and endorsed by UNESCO, the West Africa Examination Council and several others, and even received a UN-World Summit Award for innovation,
Aregebesola’s many impactful social investment initiatives have been well acknowledged, leading to international and local rating agencies, such as the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative to rate Osun state the second highest among all the 36 states of Nigeria on its Human Development Index In 2014, while Renaissance Capital ranked Osun state as the 7th largest economy in the country, and in 2017, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) rated Osun as the state with the lowest poverty rate in Nigeria.
It is this track record of consistent commitment to fighting poverty, and uplifting the well-being of the common man, through peoples focused good governance, that is driving Aregbesola’s present resolve to work with the ADC to put an end to the impoverishment and suffering which the anti-people neo-rightist policies of Bola Tinubu’s APC government is inflicting on the Nigerian people.
Aregbesola’s overiding goal is to promote peaceful coexistence among Nigerians, and to engender the economic prosperity and social advancement of Nigeria. For him, these are what constitute the fundamental basis for the social stability of the country, and its prospects for improved security and prosperous growth – a viewpoint that aligns with the opinion that poverty, inequality and, non-inclusive governance are inimical to the socioeconomic advancement and national security of the country. His emphasis on human capital development, through education, infrastructure development, and the reduction of poverty, has not only landed him accolades, they are the qualities that stands him out as a true progressive and a pro-people leader, who is neither a tribal nor religious bigot, but who is a true patriot who is genuinely committed to the social advancement and economic prosperity of Nigeria.
Influence & Networks
With a background that is entirely enmeshed in social activism, political mobilization, organization and leadership, Aregbesola has traversed the civil society and political circuits, rising from a state commissioner to become a two-term state governor and a federal minister. Along the route of this illustrious career, he has developed extensive and loyal connections to both the mighty and the ordinary people, especially those in his primary political lair, the south west.
Aregbesola’s extensive connections to government houses, palaces, and the homes of the streets mobilizers in the towns and villages of the southwest, are what convinced his colleagues in the National Opposition Coalition Group (NOCG), to confer the leadership of the opposition in the southwest on him, and to appoint him as the national secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), their adopted political party for the 2027 election.
Advocacy & Social Contributions
As a social crusader and leftist progressive political leader, Ogbeni Aregbesola advocates for inclusive governance, education, human capital, and public infrastructure development, as the path to the economic progress, social stability and the assurance of the national security of Nigeria. He is a leader who respects and contributes to the sustenance of traditional and institutional values, which he demonstrates in formalizing the Isese traditional worship holiday, and his principled stand against the eroding of founding ideologies, ideals, principles, and values in the operations of the political parties of the country.
Personal & Social Life
Aregbesola is a Muslim who was born into a multi-religious family of a Muslim father and a Christian mother. And, he is married to Sherifat Aregbesola, a woman who seems to be a major force of influence in his life.
While not much is known about his recreational life, he is the founder of the Omoluabi Boys and Girls Club, which are multi-sports clubs for youths.
Strategic Goals & Future Directions
As the national secretary of the repositioned ADC party, it would be expected that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola will strive to inculcate his imprimatur progressive values and omoluabi ethos on the party, given his stand that “a political party is not a platform for opportunism. And, it is not a mere vehicle to power for the few, nor a tool for personal ambition. A political party, is a living institution built on values, guided by ideals, and accountable to the people it seeks to serve” This could be among his strategic visions for the ADC, a party that is conceived as a vehicle to rescue the country from its socioeconomic and sociopolitical declines.
The energy he is putting to building the ADC into a potent political force, and the army of youthful and enthusiastic supporters who are signing up into his Omoluabi national ethical reformation and rebirth organization, suggests that Aregbesola is committed to the strategic reformation of Nigeria’s political culture and to stemming the ethical decline of the Nigerian society.
Therefore, Ogbeni Aregebesola is one leader whose contribution can be counted upon to be a major factor that would determine Nigeria’s democratic future and its post 2027 sociopolitical outlook.
Prognosis and Final Words
Reserved, thoughtful, and focused, Rauf Aregbesola is a political leader gifted with immense strategic planning acumen, and who is deeply committed to engineering social change, and the economic and ethical rebirth of the country. His approach is consultative and calculative, leveraging on an extensive grass root support base which keeps growing, as his progressive ethical ethos gain wider appeal and acceptance. His pro-people ideals, and development driven style, makes him a leader with much to offer in the making of Nigeria’s future.
In conclusion, Rauf Arebosola’s profile is one of upright, focused and progressive leadership. As an activistic leader, he translates progressive social agitations into tangible development goals in the leadership roles he finds himself. His profile definitely qualifies him for the role he is playing in shaping the post 2027 look and feel of Nigeria.
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