Osun APC: How Aregbesola, Famodun frustrate reconciliation move

,,,,,Efforts by the National Reconciliation Committee set up by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress to resolve the internal crisis in some state chapters of the party may have suffered a setback in some states, OSUNREPORTERS NEWS gathered.

Findings shows that in some of the states visited by the committee, led by a former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, findings showed that the crisis in the party was far from over. It is believed that the prolonged crisis in the state chapters of the party prevented the party from holding its national convention. Since June 2020 when the committee, led by Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, was inaugurated, the convention has been postponed several times.

,,,,,At the ward, local government and state congresses of the party held previously, parallel leadership emerged in many states, prompting the setting up of the committee.

Oyetola and Aregbesola groups fight on in Osun

Meanwhile, barely one week after the Adamu-led committee visited Osun State to reconcile aggrieved party members, peace has yet to return to the state chapter of the party. Governor Adegboyega Oyetola and his predecessor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, have remained at loggerheads.

….Aregbesola, who is also the Minister of Interior, said on Friday that the ruling party in the state was divided, noting that at the right time, the party would be reorganised.

,,,,Speaking during the inauguration of the Digital Nigeria Centre in Ijesa Muslim Grammar School, Ilesa, Aregbesola alluded to the existence of The Osun Progressives loyal to him, and another group, Ileri Oluwa, loyal to the governor.

,,,,,,,Speaking in Yoruba, Aregbesola, acknowledged Rasaq Salinsile, who his faction elected as the chairman of the APC in the state.

The former governor said, “For anybody who seeks to know, the APC is divided in Osun. We have APC of Rauf Aregbesola, which is chaired by Mr Razaq Salinsile, and the other. Everybody is doing his or her own, later, we will reorganise, we will rearrange everything. The caucus that produced our faction is called The Osun Progressives chaired by Elder Lowo Adebiyi. People who are in doubt, thinking whether I am part of the TOP or not should listen, I belong to TOP. I am happy that the Commissioner of Police is here. There are a lot of lies that are flying around.”

,,,,,But on Saturday, the chairman-elect of the APC loyal to the governor in the state, Prince ‘Gboyega Famoodun, described members loyal to the Aregbesola group as disgruntled members of the party.

….Famoodun in a statement in Osogbo on Saturday, berated Aregbesola for open declaration of support for TOP, saying the conduct of the ex-governor was below expectation. He also told Aregbesola to perish the belief that he was the only powerbroker in Osun progressive politics. He said the former governor was only living in past glory.

,,,,,The statement read in part, “The intra-APC opposition group, called TOP, which meets every Thursday in the Campaign Office of the Interior Minister in Osogbo has become a venue where barrage of insults are heaped on the person of Governor Gboyega Oyetola, the state leadership of the APC and the state government by the leadership of the said TOP.

,,,,,“This disgruntled set of the APC members are peopled by members of the cabinet of Aregbesola during his two terms as the governor of the state who are now protesting their not being appointed by Governor Oyetola for the third term.

“Osun APC is too strong for Aregbesola to break. His recent statement in Ilesa reduces his status as a former governor and as a serving minister of a party he claimed to belong to. Aregbesola is an arrogant, selfish, self-centered, reckless, wicked and inconsiderate politician who wants the whole world to be his possession. It is not an overstatement to categorise Aregbesola as someone who prefers to rule in hell than to serve in paradise. Aregbesola should be told that there is no amount of intrigues by him that is capable of bungling the second term ambition of Governor Oyetola as it has divine guidance and pathfinder which makes him(the governor) unstoppable by any mortal.”

,,,,When contacted for reaction, secretary of Aregbesola backed APC faction, Lani Baderinwa, said response to Famoodun “will be made available soonest.”

……Only genuine resolution can bring peace to Osun APC – Aregbesola’s group

Meanwhile, Baderinwa had told one of our correspondents that only reorganisation and genuine reconciliation could return peace to the party. Baderinwa, expressed hope that the reconciliation committee, having heard the complaints of the group, would ensure that justice was served.

“We have met with the reconciliation committee and all we have been saying is that let us ensure reorganisation and fairness. We hope justice will be served by the committee. Until then, the party will continue to push for a better APC that can win elections without struggling in Osun State,” Baderinwa added.

Meanwhile, the verbal attacks between Aregbesola’s camp and the faction loyal to the governor in the past few days were a testament to the raging impasse between the two camps.