GOVERNOR Rotimi Akeredolu and former governor of Osun State and Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, yesterday, settled their four-year-old feud over the 2016 governorship election.
Aregbesola had supported Mr. Olusola Oke in 2016, who contested on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy, AD, as against Rotimi Akeredolu, who was the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate in the election.
This pitched the two-party leaders against each other and they had been avoiding each other since Akeredolu won the election in 2016.
Speaking at the commissioning of the newly acquired fire fighting vehicle in Akure, Aregbesola said his presence to commission the vehicle was to further assure Governor Akeredolu that whatever that had happened between them, has been buried.
The Interior Minister said: “A lot has occurred between me and Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, but the past has now remained in the past.”
Describing Akeredolu as his personal lawyer before he emerged as Governor, Aregbesola said Ondo State was his home having spent the first 18 years of his life in the sunshine state.
But while commissioning the fire fighting vehicles, Aregbesola said the fire service has saved assets worth N trillion across the country in 2020.
Aregbesola said: “The federal fire service had been able to save 724 lives while assets worth over N1trillion were saved from being destroyed by fire by the fire service.
“We are working towards upgrading the fire fighting services but our people must be careful against fire incidents because this is the most dangerous part of the year.”
Speaking earlier, Governor Akeredolu had reeled out the interventions of his administration at ensuring the effectiveness of the state fire services.
He said: “The reform carried out by our administration in the Fire Service has made it possible for the Head of the Fire Service in the state to attain the Director cadre which is level 16 in the state civil service.
“The spirits of the staff were at the lowest ebb because they were neither motivated nor up-to-date in modern firefighting methods.
“We are working hard and putting a strategy in place to ensure all the fire stations are put in good shape within the shortest period of time to respond to emergencies as and when necessary.”
Vanguard