…as party chieftains disagree with choice of national leader
There is commotion under the tent of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, as interests of the party leaders continue to clash over who represents it in the forthcoming governorship election scheduled to hold in the state on September 22.
Most visible among the several candidates put forward by chieftains in Osun State is that of the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who reportedly pressures the state governor, Rauf Aregbesola to anoint Gboyega Oyetola, [Tinubu’s cousin] as APC’s flag bearer for the Osun governorship election.
To win the APC guber ticket, Oyetola, who is the current Chief of Staff to Governor Aregbesola will be slugging it out with other contenders like; Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, the state Commissioner for Finance;Mr. Bola Oyebamiji, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly; Hon. Najeem Salam, the lawmaker, representing Ejigbo/Iwo/Ola-Oluwa federal constituency in the House of Representatives; Hon. Mojeed Alabi, the deputy speaker in the House of Representatives; Hon. Lasun Yusuf, representing the Orolu/Irepodun/Osogbo/Oroluunda Federal Constituency.
Others are the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice; Dr. Ajibola Basiru, a Lagos-based legal practitioner; Rasheed Adegoke,Founder of Tiwa n Tiwa L’Osun, a socio-political group
According to a close source who spoke anonymously to TheNewsGurung.com, the alleged plot by Tinubu to influence the outcome of Osun APC’s primaries in favour of Oyetola has put the party excos at loggerheads.
According to the source: “Aregbesola and some of his trusted aides including the likes of Biyi Odunlade for Ife Zone, Gbenga Ogunkanmi for Ayedire and Rasak Salinsile for Iwo Zone, Kolapo Alimi and Bashiru Ajibola for Osogbo/Irepodun, and Victor Fatoki have been alleged to be the brains working relentlessly to realise the Tinubu’s task .”
Fatoki, it would be recalled, is the Personal Assistant to the State Chairman of the party, Prince Gboyega Famoodun, was given three council areas to work on, while Idowu Korede, the State Commissioner for Sanitation, has been given the task of dealing with list of members from Ijesa axis of the state.
The source further hinted that to achieve this objective prominent members of the party have been invited in recent times on several occasions to Osogbo, the state capital, with juicy offers including appointments as Senior Special Advisers to the Governor among others.
According to the source, at one of the meetings, attendees were handed lists of exco members in their respective areas to work on.
Specific orders were said to have been dished out to remove names of deceased members, as well as those that had crossed to other political parties.
Those invited to meetings were specifically instructed to ensure that names of members that are favourably disposed to a particular governorship aspirant be instantly removed.
“The next stage, it was further scooped, is to place all the approved exco members on special salaries and other allowances to ensure the emergence of the governor’s anointed candidate during the forthcoming party governorship primaries,” the source added.
Party leaders in the state have also expressed concern that the likely anointed candidate, Oyetola if victorious at the polls will serve as a compliant governor who will easily help in covering Aregbesola’s track during his eight year reign as governor.
However, when TheNewsGuru.com contacted one of the top aides of Aregbesola, who demanded to speak on grounds of anonymity, he said he was unaware of such undercover plans to anoint Oyetola, saying the governor is rather focusing on completing some of the key projects he promised the people of Osun State.
Contentions
As the governorship election approaches, there are several contentious issues that may play out on who finally picks the governorship ticket of the party. While some have wished these away as trivial, others are lobbying and pushing hard to establish some of these issues and it appears they are beginning to gain grounds.
Some of these are;
‘Home based’ or ‘Lagos/Foreign based politician’
Before now, the APC have been enmeshed in the struggle between members advocating for choice of an “home-based” candidate instead of the “Lagos/foreign” candidate.
Recall that the incumbent governor was an established politician in Lagos State who served under the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration as Commissioner for Works and Special Duties.
Having spent two terms as governor and given all the support he enjoys, some factions within the ruling party in the state believe that Governor Aregbesola should naturally transmit power to a popular and dependable ‘home based ’politician.
The clamour has already been established with many believing in the advocacy. However, the party has been very silent on the issue and some members also consider the matter to be a non issue.
For example, the Director of Publicity and Strategy for the party in the state, Barr. Kunle Oyatomi, in an interview with a national daily [Not TheNewsGur.com] defines someone as ‘Lagos/Foreign politician’ and another a home-based.
In his words: “As long as you are a citizen of the state and you meet other constitutional requirements you are qualified to run for the election. What should be important is how capable and prepared for the job are the aspirants so that the state would not suffer a retrogression as a result of bad governance. The incumbent governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, no doubt has laid a foundation for continued and future development which need a consolidation by the right choice of candidate to succeed him and further increase the fortunes of the state.”
Zoning
The clamour among the members is for the governorship seat to be zoned to the Osun West senatorial districts which comprises; Ede North, Ede South, Egbedore, Ejigbo, Ayedade, Irewole, Isokan, Iwo, Ayedire and Ola-Oluwa council areas, because the zone only ruled for barely two years when late Senator Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke was first civilian governor from 1992 to 1993 since creation of the state since 1991.
However, the Osun Central and Osun East senatorial districts has ruled for 11 and 8 years respectively out of 26 years since the state was created. Both from Central, Chief Adebisi Akande was in the saddle from 1999 to 2003 and Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola from 2003 to 2010 until he was sacked by the Court of Appeal in Ibadan and installed the incumbent governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, who has been on the seat from 2010; and will remain there, all things being equal, till his second term tenure expires later in the year.
Many other APC members who believe in continuity are insisting that the search for a credible candidate that can do the job must not be limited to a particular zone if the future of the state will not be jeopardized.
