Osun ’22: Hurdles Before Oyetola, APC IN July 16 Guber Poll

By Razaq Bamidele

The tension generated by the crisis within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Osun State chapter, before its February 19 party primaries was so thick it could almost be touched in the atmosphere. The tension created an impression that whoever emerged as winner of the party ticket would appear as good as winning the governorship election in July.

Perhaps, that is why Governor Gboyega Oyetola and all his supporters in the party are still basking in the euphoria of the primary’s victory as if the worst is over. However, in political contests, the parlance is, it is not over until it is over.

Victory at the primary election appeared so assuring that, the state’s Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mrs. Funke Egbemode, enthused that the election proper coming up in July would go the way of the primary election.

Egbemode expressed confidence when contributing (online) to a debate on Ogun State Television where she said the July election would witness the same landslide victory the governor scored in the primaries. The commissioner hinged her confidence on the good work of the government that has endeared him to the heart of the good people of Osun State.

Speaking with our correspondent on phone, the spokesperson of the APC in Osun State, Barrister Kunle Oyatomi, went superlative, saying the governor would even surpass the primaries victory so much it would look like a child’s play during the main election.

However, he noted that reconciliation was seriously ongoing, asserting that in due course, all the aggrieved members of the party would be back in the fold and the July 16 governorship election would be a walk-over for the APC.

Countering Oyatomi, the State secretary of the other side, The Osun Progressives (TOP), Hon. Adelani BADERINWA , said nobody had initiated any reconciliatory move. He expressed the view that, believing the other side is selfish and insincere because of their desire for winner-takes-all.

Bolarinwa, who was the former Information Commissioner in the state, said it was normal in politics that reconciliation entails give and take but he suspected that the governor’s side does not want to cede any position to the TOP members in the arrangement.

Nevertheless, he assured that TOP is ever ready for reconciliation, adding that the objective of the TOP is a one solid house for rebirth, reengineering and reorganisation of the party to regain its winning capacity. He expressed doubt that the way it is, Oyetola’s group could win the July 16 election proper without the TOP.

He ruled out the possibility of TOP floating another party, saying: “We cannot leave our party for the minority members.” He insisted that “their selfishness that led to losing thousands of members to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), will cost the APC the next election if something concrete is not done now.”

The PDP angle 

Speaking on phone with our man, the Osun State Chairman of the PDP, Hon. Sunday Bisi, likened both the TOP and the other side of the APC in the state to two bald-headed men, fighting over a comb. He said none of them can ever move closer to the fashion instrument.

According to him, the PDP will defeat the APC with between 150,000 and 200,000 votes margin, boasting that, “we will not leave any room for them for any manipulation like they did in 2018.”

On the power of incumbency, Hon Bisi Sunday just laughed it off and shoved it aside, saying, defeating incumbent occupiers of offices is not a big deal as far as politics is concerned. He reminded that, in 2003, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola of the PDP defeated the incumbent governor, Bisi Akande of the Alliance for Democracy (AD).

In 2015, he continued, Muhammadu Buhari defeated Dr. Goodluch Jonathan, a sitting President; and Peter Fayose of the PDP defeated Dr. Kayode Fayemi, an incumbent governor in Ekiti. The list, according to him, is endless.

On PDP candidate, Sunday Bisi revealed that election of the party’s flag bearer has been slated for Tuesday, March 8, with six aspirants, jostling for the only party’s ticket. He added that as party leader, he had to be neutral and a assured that all disgruntled members of the party would soon come back to the fold, as members of the same big family that they are.

Other parties’ factor

 

Action Alliance (AA)

The National Chairman of the Action Alliance (AA), Hon. Adekunle Rufai Omo-Aje, admitted that Governor Oyetola has been a wonderful governor since he was elected. He commended him for how he has continued to pilot the affairs of Osun State in a way no one expected. However, Omo-Aje, who was once a governorship candidate of the AA in Osun State, said on July 16, his party would win easily, enthusing: “It will be so because Action Alliance is a beacon of hope for all Nigerians, as a whole and Osun State in particular.”

According to him, it’s not in doubt that both APC and PDP have failed Nigerians and so, the disappointed people of the country and in Osun State would want to identify with the AA, as the only party to rescue them.

“So, in Osun State on July 16, AA will pull a big surprise by winning the governorship election by the grace of God and by the power of the good people of the state,” Omo-Aje concluded.

African Democratic Congress (ADC)

Also speaking on the July 16 governorship election, Osun State chapter chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dr. Charles Idowu Omidiji, expressed the confidence that, with the situations in the APC and PDP presently, “we will dislodge whoever still remains in the Government House during the election.”   According to him, nobody would want to hand over a vehicle to a driver that is in a tussle with his boss, saying the time has come for the people of the state to carefully vote for a stable party, the ADC   Omidiji, a University of Maiduguri-trained veterinary doctor, said, “my party, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), which is the third force in Osun behind the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will move to the first position this year.”   Talking about its strength, Omidiji said, “without sounding immodest, we have members across the 30 local government areas of the state. With a bit of push to woo more members that can make things happen in their various catchment areas, we are as good as winners of the coming poll.”   Concluding, the vocal politician stated that, “our chance of ruling the state from July 16, 2022 is brighter now because people are tired of both APC and PDP.”     APGA   A Pentecostal cleric, Pastor Popoola Olatunji (JP), is the chairman of the Osun State Chapter of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). In an interview with our reporter, he said his party is prepared to add the Osun State to Anambra State where it holds sway, expressing the delight in moving up from a one-state party to a two-state party.   According to him, the numerical strength of his party’s membership in Osun State presently is intimidating. He warned that any political party that underrates it in the next election does so at its own peril.   “APGA is so popular in Nigeria that it has become the third largest party in the country.  We have a governor in Anambra State and several members of the House of Representatives from Anambra, Taraba, Benue, Imo, Abia, and Bayelsa States and in Abuja. The party’s tentacles are now being extended to Osun State, where we have members in thousands in addition to several prominent enthusiasts, who are eying the party with a view to joining it,” Olatunji declared.   While reminding that membership drive is a continuous exercise in any political clime, the cleric expressed enthusiasm that, “many new and aggrieved members of other parties are already trooping into our fold in droves on daily basis. Others are still consulting with us since they know that our doors are wide open to accommodate them all.”

On the 2022 governorship election in the state, Olatunji expressed confidence that APGA would give both the APC and PDP a serious fight in the state, pointing out that, “With its present strength in the state, APGA would be the party to beat.”

Reconciliation

 

Though Hon. Baderinwa (TOP scribe) said nobody from the governor’s side has initiated moves towards reconciliation, latest events have shown that there are moves for proper reconciliation from the top echelon of the warring factions. The TOP leader and Minister of the Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, was in the news lately of consulting a couple of royal fathers to mediate between him and his former boss, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, with a view to wade in and douse the tension occasioned by his falling out with the state governor, Gboyega Oyetola. Though, Tinubu was not in attendance, his spokesman, Tunde Rahaman, said his boss, Tinubu, was not invited to the parley, believing that the two respected monarchs, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, Alaafin of Oyo and Oba Adeyeye Enitan, the Ooni of Ife, must have had a plan to contact Tinubu at a later date.

Rahaman, however, assured that Tinubu holds traditional institutions in high esteem and so could not have deliberately ignored them if they had invited him. Rahman wrote in a statement:

“I can tell you clearly that the two traditional rulers intend to reach out to him (Tinubu) later. But let me say this clearly, Asiwaju Tinubu has tremendous respect for the traditional institution and particularly the two eminent royal fathers.

“You would recall that only recently during his consultations and engagement with traditional rulers and other stakeholders in Oyo and Osun States on his presidential aspiration, Asiwaju visited and interfaced with HRM Iku Baba Yeye, Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, and HRM, Onirisa, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, in their respective domains.

“If you ask me what Asiwaju’s attitude will be to the reconciliation move, of course, he will welcome and support it. Don’t forget that Asiwaju and the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, are from the same political family. Asiwaju appointed him Commissioner for Works in Lagos for eight years during his time as governor.

“He also later drafted him into the Osun governorship race and supported him to be governor in Osun for eight years. I think Asiwaju will factor all of that and where both of them are coming from into the reconciliation efforts. He will not oppose the idea.”

In addition, The Nigerian Xpress is aware that, apart from the traditional rulers, some religious and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), are also working towards making reconciliation possible to allow for a peaceful poll in July.

Recall that, Professor Ishaq Akintola of the Muslim Right Concern (MURIC), has called on the leadership of the Muslim Community (Ummah), in the South-west to rise up to the occasion. And it has been in the news that the respected 80-year-old General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has called his two brethren to order.

Perhaps, it is against the foregoing, coupled with the overwhelming promise of support by traditional rulers across the state for the governor during his campaign tour for the primary election that gave Oyatomi and Egbemode the confidence to say, there is no vacancy in the Abere Government House and that the governorship poll on July 16 would be better than the landslide victory of the governor in the primary election on February 19.