August 22, (THEWILL) – The cold war between Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State and his predecessor in office and Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, got to a head penultimate Saturday, when followers of the two leaders of the All Progressives Congress in the state engaged in a free-for-all.
The violent incident, which took place at the Osun State Secretariat of the APC in the Ogo-Oluwa area of Osogbo, the Osun State capital, during a sitting of the Ward Congress Appeal Committee, left in its wake hundreds of injured members of the party.
It was gathered that the Aregbesola camp, known as The Osun Progressives (TOP) were at the party’s secretariat to submit its members’ petitions on the recently conducted Ward Congress of the party in the state to the Ward Congress Appeal Committee, which was in Osogbo to receive petitions concerning the Congress. But fight later broke out between members of TOP and the Ileri Oluwa, a group of Oyetola’s loyalists. The incident later led to an uneasy situation in Osogbo throughout that Saturday night.
The violent clash and the resultant blood spilling was the climax of some wrangling within the Osun APC, which political analysts and watchers of political developments believe may lead to the downfall of the party in the forthcoming governorship election in the state, if not nipped in the bud.
Governor Oyetola and his predecessor, Aregbesola, are both deeply involved in the battle for the soul of APC in Osun State. Surprisingly, Oyetola was the Chief of Staff to Aregbesola during his two term as governor, before he succeeded him at the Abere Governnent House.
Speaking with THEWILL on Saturday’s incident, a leader of TOP who led the petitioners to the APC secretariat on the day, Barrister Gbenga Akano, said it was unfortunate that the situation within Osun APC had degenerated to such a low level as it is now. But he absolved members of TOP of any blame, saying the governor’s followers were the perpetrators of violence.
“It behoves on us, the TOP caucus of the APC, who had earlier forwarded some petitions to the National Secretariat of our party on the development in the state to submit our petitions to the appeal committee. We have grievances. We called for congress, the Oyetola’s camp called for consensus. The directive of the national secretariat on consensus was an advice. It said where possible go for consensus. They neglected ‘ where possible’ and decided to make consensus. We said no and we made a lot of noise on that.”
Akano, who was Assistant Chief of Staff to Aregbesola in his first term and later served as Special Adviser on Tax and Revenue Matters during his second term, said, “I led the petitioners to the party secretariat that Saturday. When we got there we were peaceful, but may be the Oyetola group were intimidated by the crowd , miffed by the multitude and they started removing TOP caps from our members’ heads.
“Those that started the violence were not members of TOP. We were peaceful, orderly and singing songs to motivate our members and to ginger them.”
Akano, who was also the Political Secretary to Governor Bisi Akande between 1999 and 2003 further said, “They came to harass, to intimidate us. But the number they saw was more than what they could cope with. They then retreated to remobilise. When they went out to mobilise, the screening of the petitions had started. May be when they were running out of patience, they caused mayhem.”
Also speaking, the Osun State Commissioner for Works, Engr. Remi Omowaye described the activities of TOP as a distraction.
“They want to distract us, but we are not going to be moved by their antics. The people of Osun had entrusted their mandate to us and our party and we will strive to deliver. What is important to us is how to move the state forward.
“The appeal committee said if you have appeal come and submit your appeal. They want to create the impression that there is crisis and they are determined to distract us. Why would they mobilise people to the party secretariat to cause commotion? They can’t match us, but we owe the people of Osun, peace and order. That was why we just ignored them.”
Both Akano and Omowaye believe the crisis will end at the appropriate time. But the end seems not to be in sight as the two leaders, Aregbesola and Oyetola hold on to their belligerent positions.
It would be recalled that a few months ago, TOP was formed by Aregbesola’s loyalists and the leaders made it clear that it was formed to position the Aregbesola camp for the state congress of the party, as well as the party’s primaries for the governorship election coming up in the third quarter of next year.
It was gathered across the state that the mobilisation for TOP has been tremendous as they were visibly seen in all the 30 local government areas and the area office of the state.
THEWILL further gathered that the group has been doing great work both on the ground and in the social media towards sensitising the residents of the state towards identifying with it.
The leaders of the group had earlier already accused the caretaker chairman of the party in the state, Prince Gboyega Famodun, of running the party unilaterally.
Famodun is believed to be an ally of Governor Oyetola.
The Group is of the opinion that Famodun has murdered cohesion and unity in the party, noting that he displayed a similar attitude in 2018, which almost caused the party grief during the last governorship election.
In a statement signed upon TOP’s formation by its Chairman, Adelowo Adebiyi, the stakeholders said TOP was formed to ensure that APC does not suffer electoral loss in the next year governorship election in the state.
It was gathered that some notable leaders that formed TOP include the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, former Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti; former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Lasun Yussuf; former Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam and Comrade Gbenga Awosode, among others, and their followers.
They had also called on leaders of the party, “especially Chief Bisi Akande, Governor Gboyega Oyetola and Igbimo Agba to call Famodun and others of his type to order in view of his unguarded utterances, which they is irresponsibly divisive and unacceptable in the comity of the civilised world.”
The statement added, “Famodun’s inability to demonstrate needed capacity expected of him as the chairman of the party towards the 2018 governorship election nearly caused the party grief.
“No dispassionate chairman would have allowed defection from his party a few weeks to a critical election as Famodun did in 2018.
“Rather than demonstrating father figure to all contending forces within the party, he chose to take sides in all matters and destroy party cohesion and unity.
“As we speak today, Famodun is at war with his two predecessors, the current deputy and secretary, the minister and other notables in the party. Famodun cannot differentiate between monarchical inheritance and a democratic organisation, where multiple interests are aggregated to ensure the good of all, which is the essence of a political party.
“The above-stated reason is responsible for the problems in the party today and therefore we at the TOP wish to note that his kind of person is unfit to handle party management as would be expected.”
The group said it would work towards the promotion of internal democracy, effective and efficient party management, re- mobilisation, reconciliation and networking, which would aid the party’s victory in 2022.
Reacting to the development then, Famodun noted that the management of the party was not vested in a pressure group, adding that if the group, (TOP) had any idea that could be of benefit to the party, it should channel it through the appropriate authority.
He noted that the new factional group was absurd and unrecognised, saying that no one would be allowed to rebel against the party’s leadership.
“The constitution of the party doesn’t recognise any splinter group within the entity called APC in this country. The man that signed the statement is the leader of the party. There is no role for the former acting chairman in the management of the party. As a leader of the party, if you believe in a cause, there are organs of the party through which such grievances could be channeled. But when you go outside all those structures or you don’t believe in those structures again, then don’t consider yourself as a member of the party anymore. You cannot rebel against a constituted authority within the party,” he added.
A political observer in Osun State, Mr Aina Oluokun, said what was happening in the state had to do with Oyetola’s second term.
Oluokun told THEWILL that the new group, TOP comprised Aregbesola’s foot soldiers and leaders of Osun APC, describing the group as a formidable one that cannot be underrated in the politics of Osun State.
He warned the governor’s camp to prepare on time to settle whatever rift that it had with Aregbesola’s group or risk getting its nose bruised during the APC governorship primary in the state.
“This is the same reason Oyetola’s camp went into consensus rather than elective congress in the last Ward Congress. They cannot compete at the grassroots with the TOP. The party leadership should wade in before it is too late, otherwise PDP is waiting in the wing to reap from their crisis”, Oluokun said.
Also speaking with THEWILL, the Chairman of The Osun Progressives, (TOP), Mr Adelowo Adebiyi, said the group was formed to ensure internal democracy in the party .
“The Group is formed to ensure equity, fairness and justice and to promote accountability and ensure that unity of the party is ensured. Those are our vital objectives. We are APC. We are still in the party, but we are working towards the ongoing congresses of the party. We want to mobilise for the congresses to ensure that we have internal democracy,” he told THEWILL.
He doesn’t want TOP to be tagged as Aregbesola group, saying “as for those who styled us, “the Aregbesola Group”, Adebiyi said such talk was a misconception.
“We are telling you about our principles, what we desire. How have those things concerned Aregbesola? We are not talking of governorship primary election now. The governorship election is too far, but the congress is here. Let’s tackle this one first. Anything can still happen before then. Let’s settle issue of congress first. When the governorship primaries come, we can think of what to do,” he said.
On the alleged grouse with the Acting Chairman, Mr. Famodun, Adebiyi said
“Which type of grouse? He is currently the caretaker chairman, if he wants to become the chairman of the party, let him obtain the form. Other people will contest with him. That is internal democracy. If he is qualified to contest for the chairmanship of our party based on our constitution, can I prevent him from contesting? No, but what we are saying is that we don’t want imposition.”
It would be recalled that the genesis of the crisis was the tension that grew between Governor Oyetola and Aregbesola as well as their followers, following the reversal of most of the latter’s educational policies, such as the the single uniform policy, mixed schools, 4-5-3-4 system, among others .
But while speaking after the educational reversal was announced, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Ismail Omipidan, noted that the speculations about the policy being a jab at the former administration was not correct, stating that the new policies were the government’s response to the yearnings of the people which the governor held sacred.
Similarly, the Commissioner for Political Affairs and Inter-governmental Relations, Taiwo Akeju, has said the mission for the reversal of some education policies introduced by Aregbesola was not aimed at destroying his legacies.
Akeju, who described the immediate past governor and minister of interior as his leader and brother from Ijesha land, said the policy reversal in the education sector had nothing to do with administration vendetta.
In a chat with journalists in his office, the commissioner described the policy reversal as yielding to the yearnings of the people of the state.
He said the people during a thank you tour by Oyetola in 2019 unanimously told the governor to look into the policies as it had impacted negatively on the lives of the students.
“The policy in 2018 became a talking point in the state. Opposition parties castigated the then candidate of the All Progressives Congress and now the governor, Gboyega Oyetola on it and the governor then said if it was the wish of the people to reverse it, he would do that.
“After the 2019 polls, the governor went round the state for his thank you tour and asked people what their wants were. It is on record that over 99 per cent of the people requested policy reversal in education.
“More so, the Department for International Development (DFID) after carrying out a survey across the state, recommended to the governor, a review of the then education policies.
“After that, we realised that this is a consensus of the people. The exco, in order not to take a unilateral decision, assembled credible and reliable Nigerians in the education sector to sit on a committee to assess the report and feed it back. The likes of Prof. Olu Aina, General Alani Akinrinade and other credible Nigerians did the review and the exco approved it,” he said.
He said the present administration is committed to upholding, consolidating and sustaining the legacies of the immediate past administration led by Aregbesola.
“What I will tell those insinuating crisis between Aregbesola and Oyetola is that they should desist. The two leaders talk several times a day and they both discuss how to make Osun great.”
The question political analysts and observers now asking is between Oyetola and Aregbesola, who will blink first? More important, they are also asking impatiently when peace will return to Osun APC. These are questions that surely answers will come, but how soon? Nobody can clearly say for now.
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
