•State Exco Divided Over Chairman’s Removal
By Solomon Odeniyi
As the 2019 general elections approache, the State of Osun chapter of the Accord Party is ridden in crisis which is likely to affect the chances of the party’s candidates across the state.
Investigation showed that the House of Representatives candidate for Ife Federal Constituency, who is also the state party Chairman, Hon Olusegun Fanibe, is at the centre of the crisis as majority of the state executive committee passed a vote of no confidence on him.
Of the 16 executive members making the state working committee 11 were said to have supported his removal while five believed to be loyal to him bicker on this.
The situation, the medium learnt, has led to factionalisation within the party with a side calling for the chairman’s resignation.
The National secretariat and the Southwest coordinator of the party have been written to broker peace between the warring parties.
Checks showed that the crisis began weeks before the Osun governorship election and was part of the reason the party had a dismal showing at the just concluded gubernatorial election in the state.
The embattled chairman was alleged to have imposed the candidature of Pastor Pade Okunola on members of the party among other gross misconduct leading to his suspension and was served a letter to that effect with an option to clear the air on the allegations against him.
A source within the party told OSUN DEFENDER that Fanibe never responded either in written or oral form or attended a meeting where the issues would have been addressed.
This, according to the source contravenes the provisions of Article 17 section 179 (c) of the Accord party constitution.
The source said, “Fanibe was suspended on the September 18, 2018 for one month by members of the state executives. We alleged him of being self-centered, administrative high handedness, financial misappropriation of parties’ fund, especially the N4.5million he collected from the three governorship aspirants, conversion of party’s property to personal use, factionalisation of the party and many more. He didn’t respond to the allegations leveled against him neither did he resign.
“He didn’t even call a meeting where the allegations could be responded to. We had another meeting on October 6 within the confines of the law which was headed by the acting chairman, Ayo Adeyemi where we decide that he must leave. The National body is privy to this. They asked both parties to put our grieve in writing. We’ve done that and we are expecting a reply. It’s not a matter of witch-hunt. We hold nothing against him. We are peace loving people in the party”.
The source added that the crisis took another twist after Fanibe declared himself as the party’s standard bearer for Ife federal constituency in the 2019 general elections.
He was also accused of not resigning his current position as the chairman before contesting as directed by the party’s constitution.
The aggrieved faction are imploring that to save the party which was on the cusp of collapse, a new chairman must be brought on board, insisting that for the party to have a meaningful restructuring, ‘Fanipe must go’.
The group also threatened to write INEC to disqualify him if he insists to remain the party chairman.
However, Fanibe said his offence was not allowing the aggrieved persons to market the party for money in the last election, insisting that there is peace in the party.
Fanibe said, “All they said were lies. I never imposed anyone on them, the primary we had was witnessed by INEC, security agents as well as the media and was considered as one of the most fairest. It was an open ballot. The only reason they are lamenting was because I refused to let the party structure to be hijacked. Those people received money from one of the major parties to field a particular candidate to contest in our party so that they can hijack it, but unfortunately people voted for Okunola.
“I won’t allow them tamper with my good name. I financed the structure of the party in the state with my personal money. I raised the party from ground zero. They do not have a single office in the whole of Osun when I came. How would I have brought down the house I built? They are saboteurs. “
He noted that due process was followed before picking the party ticket to contest the Ife House of Representatives seat, citing it as the reason the issue was re-ingnited.
“Do you know why they are doing this, they know I am contesting again. They are being used by my opponent because they know I am the candidate to beat in that constituency. I was the only one that contested from my constituency in the party and we had a primary at Ile-Ife supervised by the representative of the National body, Southwest chairman and INEC”, Fanibe said.
The Southwest chairman, Alhaji Dokun Babarinde pleaded with our reporter that he would not liked to be dragged into “any rubbish”, urging the reporter to go after the truth.
