A chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Osun State. Alhaji Fatai Diekola has been arrested by the police.
He was immediately dragged to court. Diekola, had visited the police station on Monday afternoon following an invitation.
Surprisingly, he was detained and hurriedly taking to Osogbo magistrate court 3 for arraignment.
Magistrate Abibat Bashir, who incidentally is the wife of the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, however, declined to entertain the case, for possible fear of running foul of judicial process.
Diekola was later taken back to the Osun State Police headquarters, as tension continued to rise among his associates and political allies.
DAILY POST recalls that Diekola, a former chairman of Osogbo Local Government, was a close ally of governor Rauf Aregbesola, and a leading foot soldier of the governor during the 2014 gubernatorial election in the state.
He was rumoured to have practically won the governorship election for the APC in Osogbo and Olorunda local government areas.
His political savvy was acknowledged by governor Aregbesola in the presence of journalists, during an Iftar at the government house in 2016, when the governor convincingly introduced Diekola as a “political Juggernaut”.
He, however, fell out with the governor some months back, as a result of clash of interests in the choice of candidate for the 2018 governorship election.
The latest factor of the strained relationship between Diekola and Aregbesola was the role the former played in the ignominious defeat of the APC in the just concluded Osun West by-election, which produced Ademola Adeleke on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Diekola was said to have thrown his weight behind the candidacy of Adeleke, the development which deepened the rift between him and the governor.
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