Our Reporter
GOVERNOR Adegboyega Oyetola of the State of Osun is facing stiffer opposition in his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) on his second term ambition.
Oyetola’s re-election is hanging in the balance, following the recue operation launched by former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Lasun Yussuff, former Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salaam and former Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, on Tuesday, in Osogbo.
OSUN DEFENDER gathered that the unity of the prominent APC leaders against Oyetola’s ambition, has sent jilter down the spine of the governor and his supporters.
Members of the Oyetola-led IleriOluwa faction of the party have also been expressing worries over what they described as ‘political gang up’ against the governor, saying it is a bad signal for the 2022 governorship election.
It was learnt that Oyetola sent emissaries to Adeoti on Tuesday morning not to join force with Yussuff and Salaam to work against his second term ambition.
But Adeoti, according to sources, told the governor’s emissaries that Oyetola is a bad product that could not sell in 2022, insisting that APC must present a new candidate from Osun West Senatorial District.
The trio of Yussuff, Salaam and Adeoti are governorship aspirants in the APC for the next year election. They also contested the ticket of the party with Oyetola in 2018.
Speaking at a special meeting of The Osun Progressives (TOP) held at the popular Oranmiyan House, Osogbo, the APC leaders expressed their readiness to work together to rescue the party from what they described as imminent collapse and electoral loss.
They jointly declared that APC could not win the 2022 governorship election if it fields Oyetola.
The trio lamented that the governor has been playing politics of exclusiveness, marginalisation and disunity since he took over.
In his address, Salaam said it was disheartening that genuine APC members who worked for the emergence of Oyetola, were being marginalised and treated as outcast and nonentities by the governor and his people.
According to Salaam, Oyetola was mismanaging the party because he is an opportunist, who got the party’s ticket on a platter of gold.
He said Yussuff, Adeoti and himself have resolved to downplay individuals’ political interest, accept and work with whoever emerges among them as the candidate of the party in 2022.
Salam said: “I was at the forefront of Osun West agenda in 2018 as a governorship aspirant. They pacified me to support Oyetola’s candidature. Aregbesola compelled me to be the Campaign Manager of Oyetola for Osun West Senatorial District. I agreed because of the love for the party and Aregbesola.
“In spite of that, those ingrates maliciously claim that I was compromised with huge amount of money to drop my governorship ambition for Oyetola. The person you claimed gave me money is still alive. I challenge him and the people saying that to come out and say it to my face. On that, I leave you to God.
“Ninety per cent of us that worked for this government are now suffering. The suffering varies, but everyone of us is being maltreated by this government. We had waited for long, hoping that things will change for good. But it is not. It is getting worse.
“However, the three of us: Adeoti, Yussuff and I have come together to rescue the party from sinking. We now have a common front; and we are united to unseat this people. We are the real politicians. We own the party and we own the people.
“The reason why the governor is behaving in such destructive and vindictive manner is that he never struggled for the position. He is an opportunist, who got the ticket of the party on a platter of gold. Had it been he had laboured for the ticket of the party, he would not be mismanaging the party.”
The former Speaker urged party members to work in unison to realise the dreams of the majority in a bid to salvage the party and the state.
Speaking in the same vein, Yussuff, the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, said it was painful that the APC in the state is in the hands of an impostor, stating that the party is in disarray and needed to be restructured.
Yussuff said he decided to join hands with other leaders of the party in The Osun Progressives because of his love for progressives, his relationship with the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and the need to take the party back to the genuine progressives in the state.
According to him, APC ran into problem in 2018 because its leaders refused to allow collective leadership to play out, accusing them of imposing Oyetola on the APC members.
He submitted that this time around, the leaders of the party are ready to embrace collective leadership which will start from presenting a candidate from their camp against Oyetola during the primaries of the party.
Yussuff said: “What happened in 2018 was because the leaders of the people did not accommodate collective leadership and reasoning. When they manipulated the governorship primaries in favour of this governor, I told them that there would be consequence and there was.
“In every organisation, a successor will be naturally known to the people through his conducts and character. It is only a person like Aregbesola that can do what he did to us, and we will still be relating with him sincerely.
“Aregbesola is a man of honour, a great man who led the battle for the actualisation of progressive government in Osun from the front. He is not just who this people will rubbish. Where were they when we were in the struggle? We have laboured for this party. Aregbesola and I know what we have done for this party to be what it is now.
“Since 2018, I stood aloof for a while, observing the situation in the party. But I decided to join hand with like-minds, people like Adeoti and Salaam to embark on rescue mission role for this party.
“I want to assure all APC members that it is from among us that the candidate of the party will emerge in 2022. And there will not be any quarrel among us. We are ready to allow collective leadership.”
In his address, Adeoti, the governorship candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) in 2018, said it was surprising that a governor that won with just 482 votes would be chasing away quality APC members and leaders.
Adeoti said it was hypocritical and unfair for Oyetola to be dissociating himself from policies, programmes and projects of Aregbesola’s administration, disclosing that he was actively involved in every decision of the government as a Chief of Staff to the governor.
The former SSG accused elders of the APC of nonchalant attitude to settlement of misunderstanding in the party before it snowballed into full crisis.
He specifically accused the former Chairman of the party, Prince Gboyega Famodun of being a party to the crisis, saying that the former Chairman of the APC was also not willing to relate with anybody that has relationship with Aregbesola.
The Iwo born politician said: “I left this party before the 2018 governorship primaries of the APC because of the injustice meted out to me.
“The secretary of the party then, Hon. Rasaq Salinsile, who is now the Chairman of the party, was always mounting pressure on me to return to the party. After him was Kunle Ige, who facilitated my discussion with Aregbesola. Aregbesola was mounting pressure on me to return to the party.
“When we returned to the party, we did not need anything than to be integrated into the party. I met Chief Bisi Akande and talked to him in that regard and he promised to facilitate meeting. He never did that till now.
“I also went to meet the Chairman of APC Elders Caucus, Engr. Sola Akinwumi in Ibadan. He said he was happy that I returned to the party. He also promised to facilitate meeting to address issues I raised with him. But he has not done that till today. Are those leaders not contributing to the crisis?
“Sometimes ago, I met with the former Chairman of the party, Prince Gboyega Famodun. Surprisingly, Famodun told me that he had nothing against me other than I am close to Aregbesola. Imagine such statement from a chairman of the party! It was then I gave up on their matter.
“But because of the love of the progressive, we cannot continue to fold our arms and watch the party sink. We cannot allow those strangers to destroy the party for us. We are resolute and united this time around.”
Commenting on Governor Oyetola’s attitude of distancing himself from decisions taken by the Aregbesola’s administration on projects, programmes and policies, Adeoti said: “If there is anybody that should be angry with Aregbesola, I should be the one.
“While in government, Aregbesola said the files of every Ministry, Department and Agency should pass through the Chief of Staff, who is now the governor of the state, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola.
“But I was not taking my files to him because I know the office of the SSG is superior to that of the Chief of Staff. The deputy governor was taking her files to the Chief of Staff, until I told her that I was taking my files to the governor directly.
“Aregbesola never imposed any decision on us or the state. Every decision on programmes, projects and policies of the government during the Aregbesola administration was jointly approved by every cabinet member, including Oyetola.
“It is unfair and hypocritical for anyone of us to dissociate himself or herself from anything that the Aregbesola’s administration did. We are all responsible for the success and failure of that administration.”
Adeoti concluded that the window of reconciliation has been closed, stating that what is needed was to be united to rescue the party from sinking.
All the three governorship aspirants jointly promised to work together, restructure the party and position it for victory in 2022.
In his address, the Osun APC Chairman, Hon. Rasaq Salinsile, said it was unfortunate that the party found itself in the current mess, saying that the crisis would have been settled had Oyetola been a genuine progressive and a fair human being.
Salinsile said the party has decided to choose its candidate from Osun West Senatorial District in the 2022 governorship election.
He said: “We did not know the governor will be mismanaging the party like this. His politics of exclusiveness is second to none. We appealed to our people in Osun West because of him in 2018. But what did we get in return? It is the same us that Oyetola is accusing of working against his interest.
“It is not too late to change our dancing steps. We are here with three prominent governorship aspirants – Adeoti, Salaam and Yussuff who are ready work together to unseat the ingrate. By the grace of God, the next governor of the State of Osun will come from among the three.”
Exciting Moment For APC Members
It was an exciting moment for the APC members who were openly expressing their happiness on the unity among the three political gladiators.
The coming together of Adeoti, Yussuff and Salaam rekindled the hope of the APC members that the party would be recused from those they described as impostors and opportunists.
For the period the events lasted, the ever-busy Ogo-Oluwa stretch of the Gbongan-Ibadan road in Osogbo, the state capital was a beehive of activities as thousands of party faithful accompanied Adeoti, Yussuff and Salaam to the Oranmiyan House, venue of the weekly meeting of TOP.
From the Total Junction where Adeoti’s campaign office is located, the three leaders converged in a procession to the event. Singing and dancing, they rallied chanting solidarity songs.
Notable was the shutdown of the expressway for over an hour while the trio and the party faithful who came in droves moved to the Ayinke Towers.
The mood around Ayinke Towers was electrifying with the four floors of the building occupied while the compound and the neighbouring buildings were filled up by the people.
It took the intervention of the combined team of officers of the Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and officials of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), led by the Chairman, Oroki Branch, Alhaji Kazeem Oyewale, otherwise known as Asiri Eniba to control the heavy traffic occasioned by the influx of the APC members at the Aregbesola area. Obviously, the crowd was massive owing to the personalities who attended the event.
Other APC leaders at the meeting included Chairman of The Osun Progressives, Reverend Adelowo Adebiyi, former cabinet members in the Aregbesola administration – Comrade Biyi Odunlade, Mr. Adelani Baderinwa, Barrister Kolapo Alimi. Others included ex-lawmakers in the state like Hon. Muhammad-Bashir Ibrahim and Hon. Waseeu Adebayo, former Council Chairmen in the state, Women, Youth and Opinion leaders across the local government areas of the State of Osun.
The APC members spoke in one voice on the need to salvage the party and the state from the incumbent, Governor Oyetola.
They unanimously agreed that it is time to rescue Osun from the hands of Oyetola and his cohorts who they said have grossly disunited the party and alienated those who worked assiduously for his emergence.
The political gladiators, Salaam, Yussuff and Adeoti emphasised the need for the restoration of collective leadership in the Osun APC as it is the only panacea to save it from electoral loss in the forthcoming polls.
They held that with the support of the APC members who came to the event in their thousands and their colleagues in various local government areas of the state, the party will be rescued from its current gory state and that Osun will return to a leadership driven by collective participation and people focused leadership.
The trio eulogised the party echelon in the state led by Alhaji Rasaq Salinsile and The Osun Progressives TOP Chairman, Reverend Adelowo Adebiyi for resuscitating the party from the doldrums it has witnessed in the last three years.
Party members who spoke to OSUN DEFENDER expressed optimism that with the turn of events, the APC is better repositioned for the task ahead.
All speakers at the event saluted the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who has continued to show tremendous leadership and courage in the face of provocation and open maligning by the Oyetola administration.
They urged their colleagues to remain firm in their pursuit for the return of Osun to the hands of genuine progressives in November, 2022.
