Why I served in Aregbesola’s govt – Osun Commissioner

By Isa Isawade

Osun State Commissioner For Political Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, Dr Anthony Olabiyi Odunlade has narrated how he met former Governor Rauf Aregbesola and served as commissioner in his cabinet.

Odunlade, an academic, former councilor, former Secretary to Ife Central Local Government and two times commissioner in Osun, has traversed many political parties.

He was in the Alliance for Democracy (AD) before moving to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from where he went to join Engr. Rauf Aregbesola in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and served in Rauf’s administration, first as Special Adviser on Youths and Sports and later became the Commissioner for Social Protection, Sports and Special Needs in 2017.

The Ile-Ife born politician went back to the PDP to join the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke as commissioner in 2022 before moving with the governor into Accord Party on November 6, 2025.

The Commissioner was a guest at the Osun NUJ Guest Platform, NUJ Press Centre, Osogbo on Wednesday to field questions on the performance of the Adeleke Administration in the last three and a half years.

The ebullient politician was asked by a member of the panel interviewing him on the platform the reason he has been taking flights from parties. He narrated his journey as follows:

“I grew up as a Human Rights activist and as an academic. I belief in vision, in ideology. I started up as a member of the SDP during the Abiola days. We moved on in a lot of transitions and landed at UNCP, one of Abacha’s parties and left after Abacha’s death. We moved on to the Alliance for Democracy, AD which metamorphosed into AC, ACN. After the ACN experience, we had issues with the leadership of the state then where some anti-lablour policies came on board during campaign, embarking on undemocratic engagements, I had to leave for PDP.

“Then, I went with Otunba Iyiola Omisore from ACN to PDP when there was misunderstanding. In PDP, I was very prominent. I became secretary to the Local Government for two years 2008 to 2010. Along the line, the PDP also derailed. It became anti-people in some ways. Then came in Ogbeni Aregbesola whom I met on the street. We were in the struggle for emancipation of Nigerians together, then he was a student at the Polytechnic Ibadan and I was a student at Obafemi Awolowo University. So, our paths crossed at the revolutionary level. We met and we discussed and he said ‘Comrade, you have to join us’, and I told him to convince me on why I should join him. He said, ‘I have a very bright vision for Osun State’ and I saw the green book, I went through it and I promised I would join him because I believe in providing and making available the dividend of democracy to the people which is the hallmark of politics and democracy.

“In a democratic system that does not cater for the common people, I would not want to associate with it. And we went on like that. At the end of Aregbesola’s eight years, we all decided that we were going to continue along that line. All of a sudden, a governor came in and told us that anybody still having anything to do with Aregbesola should not get close to him. I challenged that. He said ‘this is your name on the list of cabinet, you have to sign a paper’. I am not lying about this. If you want me to cite witnesses, you will be surprised. I said how can I sign that I will not have anything to do with Aregbesola, a fellow comrade?

“I was convinced that didn’t have anything against him (Aregbesola), I should not leave him. So, I told him I would not sign that document and precisely that document was presented by a member of the House of Representatives then from Ilesa who wanted to contest for Senate. So, the rest is history.

“I moved on and went back to academics at the Obafemi Awolowo University. I told them that I’m back, I don’t think I can do politics again. It was along that line that I was convinced that I should not leave politics outright because they needed forthright people. Then, I moved back to the PDP with Adeleke and that’s how we got together.

“You know the Adeleke’s story. How he transmitted from PDP to Accord when PDP became compromised at the federal level. So, that’s how I found my way to Adeleke. I never worked with him. They were just looking for brilliant people to support their government and they contacted my boss and I was asked to send my CV. I never met the governor, I never met any of his relations. They just asked me to send my CV and I became a member of the cabinet.”

He spoke of the Adeleke administration’s achievements, saying the administration has accomplished a lot in the areas of road infrastructure, health and human capital development. He took a swipe on the Federal Government over the pervasive insecurity in the country and asked President Bola Tinubu to rise to the occasion.