OBSERVATION: Osun APC Orchestrating Its Obliteration

BY ADEMOLA YAYA

IT is unreasonable and illogical to be repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting different result. Almost a year to July 16, 2022 governorship election in Osun, I had warned, in my column on this medium, on the 13th August, 2021 titled, “July 16 Osun Governorship Election Postulation.”

Therein, I stated, “If the situation is not radically addressed on time, either of these two will happen. On the one hand, if Oyetola uses his incumbent executive power to manipulate the game and emerge as APC candidate for the 2022 governorship election without the support and cooperation of other caucuses in APC, a worse repeat of 2018 will happen which clearly means he will lose the governorship election.

Winning an election is not all about money, goodwill and general acceptability play more significant role. On the other hand, if the conglomeration of the caucuses in the party succeeds in having an APC gubernatorial candidate other than Governor Oyetola, a lot of yeoman job will be required to win at the election as a lot of havocs have been wrecked. Head or tail, APC is in a thorny situation.”

Under normal circumstance, a political party that found itself in such abysmal defeat not only in the said gubernatorial election but in later held elections – State House Assembly, National Assembly and Presidential – would have reviewed its previous activities vis-a-vis what went wrong and fashion out ways to repositioning itself for future engagements.

However, in its characterless arrogance and pomposity leading to the shoddy primary, July 16, 2022 gubernatorial election and 2023 general elections, Osun APC is poised to inflicting, in the coming period, an irreparable damage onto itself two and a half years to another governorship election in the State.

After the dissolution of The Osun Progressive (TOP), a caucus within APC and return of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola to Osun after expiration of his ministerial engagement in the last administration wherein he apologised and asked for forgiveness from whomever he could have offended in the intra-party politicking in relations to last electoral dispensation, a progressive political party leadership committed to better working and living condition for the majority should have accepted it in good faith, embrace him and his followers to its fold and set up genuine reconciliation committee to heal the old wound and brace up for mass mobilisation to spreading the leaves and branches of a progressive family.

Instead, the Osun APC leadership has restricted its association to Oyetola caucus and kept its long distance to Omoluabi caucus. Over a period of time, APC which claims to be progressive is peopled by unprincipled politicians who stand for nothing other than what they will personally benefit.

To rekindle its reputation and re-orientate its members on character and virtue of progressive politicians, Omoluabi metamorphosed as a caucus within the Osun APC and it has been growing and spreading its tentacles within the party. Yes, the caucus is loyal to Aregbesola as the harbinger of real progressive politics, especially as exhibited in his policies and programmes throughout his eight years administration as governor in the state which earned him love and solidarity and endeared him to the people – students, artisans, workers, market women, etc. Instead of embracing this asset and converting it to rebuilding the party, the reactionary party leadership loyal to Oyetola is jittery and poised to behead itself.

For instance, there were reports in mainstream and social media that APC state leadership has dragged Aregbesola and INEC to Federal High Court in Osogbo in a suit marked FHC/OS/CS/1/2024, praying the court to make “an order of perpetual injunction restraining” INEC from attending or recognising any congress or convention to be held by Omoluabi caucus led by Aregbesola, maintaining that the caucus is a faction of the party.

Traditionally, progressive party politics is a seedbed of caucuses. That is why there are Justice Forum, Mandate Group, Legacy Group, IleriOluwa Group, Oranmiyan Group, The Osun Progressives and Omoluabi group, among others in APC in Lagos and Osun, for instance. As with Lagos and Osun, so for other states and parties globally. What the party leadership does is aggregation of their various positions as their objective remains the same – building of an egalitarian society for the greatest good of the majority; and synthesise them to strengthening the party. Leadership of an acclaimed progressive party who fails to subscribe to this has a big question mark on its orientation and credentials as to what progressivism means and entails.

Little wonder it has been running very fast to nowhere in the last three years. If the truth must be said repeatedly, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is an asset to progressive politics, especially in Osun and Lagos. His loud position, silence and body language are compass to measuring electoral pendulum; not because he is a magician but because he has earned the love and trust of the common people that he will always champion their course. When electoral direction was getting awry in Lagos in the last general election especially on gubernatorial contest, Aregbesola intervention contributed in no small measure to make Lagos APC coast to victory.

Except Osun APC halts its shambolic walk into perdition and reverts to genuine reconciliation on time with hard work and cooperation among various groupings within, making its fold cohesive and recruiting more people to its folds, having consolidated its house, it will thoroughly mess itself up again in 2026.  Average voters, who are not card-carrying members of any political party and are the majority electorate, and are studying attitude and dispositions of political gladiators of both ruling and opposition parties to determine who they vote in next election. It is instructive to state that their votes ultimately determine who wins or loses.

Nobody or party plays hardball in bourgeois politics and succeeds; it is the tolerance, cooperation, hard work and good perception of the electorate that ultimately yield desired victory. A tree does not make forest. It is a cohesive party that can canvass popular votes before the elections and defend its votes from being manipulated via its committed members for ultimate victory.

The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not represent the opinions or views of OSUN DEFENDER.