- Ex-Gov removes APC logo, portraits of Tinubu, Akande from campaign offices
- Allegedly hobnobbing with allies of a Third Force idea
- Aregbesola remains strong leader of APC in Osun, nationwide – Aide
- Former governor keeps mum
Following the removal of the insignia of the All Progressives Congress from the campaign offices of the immediate past Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, there is raging speculation in Osun State that the party leader might be planning to abandon the APC and form a new party.
There has been an irreconcilable political difference between Aregbesola, President Bola Tinubu who is the national leader of the governing APC and the president’s nephew and current Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola.
Aregbesola fell out with Tinubu following his harsh remarks against the President in January 2022.
He was visibly absent during all APC rallies across the country prior to the presidential election.
Few months after Oyetola emerged as the governor of Osun State, his relationship with Aregbesola, a former governor of Osun State, turned sour as the former started reversing the latter’s policies.
It was alleged in some quarters that the disappearance of the APC logo from the offices of the former Minister in Osun State is a pointer that the crisis between him, his estranged political godfather, Tinubu and Oyetola, has worsened.
The tall building known as Oranmiyan House is situated at Aregbe area in Osogbo and serves as Aregbesola’s campaign office and later office of the Osun Progressives.
On Tuesday, when The point visited the white colour high-rise edifice which hitherto wore the colours of APC with several poles bearing flags of the party and the national flags adorning its frontage, it has been given a distinctly new look.
The different insignia and identity of the APC were not the only items eliminated from the building after its renovation; the gigantic photos of President Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, and former President Muhammadu Buhari were also discarded.
They have been replaced with other equally large size images of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and late Chief Bola Ige, with Aregbesola’s picture inserted in the middle.
Also, the huge inscription of the APC logo has finally been replaced with Omoluabi Progressive Caucus logo.
The same remodeling was observed at Aregbesola’s campaign office in Ilesa, his hometown.
Reacting to the development, a member of the APC in Osun State, Akin Adeyi wondered if Aregbesola had dumped the APC and he is about to form a new party.
Adeyi said, “By this latest development, it means Aregbe’s (Aregbesola) return to the APC may have been finally foreclosed. Rumour has it that Ogbeni is already hobnobbing with the tinkerers of a Third Force idea.”
“But can any Third Force idea work, especially in a state like Osun where all that they understand for political parties is APC and or PDP?” Adeyi asked rhetorically.
But, a member of the Omoluabi Progressive caucus, Kazeem Olanrewaju, explained that the new looks at the campaign offices were attempts for the former minister and his loyalists to return “to the progressives’ ideas that led to the creation of APC.”
“Tinubu and Akande have both derailed from the Progressive ideas. Progressives’ politics, which started with Awolowo and Bola Ige, is not about power. It is about impacting lives,” Olanrewaju argued.
While condemning Tinubu’s government for having “no achievement in a year of running Nigeria,” the loyalist of Aregbesola queried, saying, “What is progressive about running Nigeria for a year without achievement?”
When asked if they would restore APC logos at their offices, Olanrewaju said, “We will bring back the banners later.”
However, Aregbesola has debunked insinuation that he has exited APC, saying he remains a strong leader of the party in Osun and one of the founding fathers of the party nationally.
The former minister said he had already given out the buildings where the party’s logo and pictures of Tinubu and Akande were removed to the Omoluabi caucus of the party for them to be used as coordinating centres of the Omoluabi Progressives where Aregbesola serves as Grand Patron.
Aregbesola’s media aide, Sola Fasure, in an exclusive interview with The Point on Tuesday, made this known, stressing that if the former minister would leave the APC, it would be formal and that he would not be the only person that would defect.
Fasure said, “Aregbesola is one of the leaders of the APC and he has not left the party. The renovation of the office was done by the Omoluabi caucus. He has not left the APC. He has not indicated any desire to leave the APC. If he is leaving the APC, it won’t be a secret thing. There are many caucuses in APC, I am sure you know that. Ileri Oluwa is one of the caucuses. Omoluabi is one of the caucuses.
“He (Aregbesola) has given that space (Oranmiyan House) to the Omoluabi Caucus. That used to be his campaign office. There is no election he is campaigning for now. Omoluabi is a caucus and coordinates the activities of the party in grassroots. I am not sure you can remember the last time Aregbesola came to that place. The last time he was there (Oranmiyan House) was after he left office as a governor. He has been there once or twice since he finished serving as governor.
“Ogbeni Aregbesola is one of the leaders of the APC. He is one of the founders of the APC, one of the people who sat together to form the APC. So, if he is going to leave the party, a formal position would have been made and he will not be the only one that will leave.”
Asked if the former governor was aware of the repainting of the buildings and removal of the APC insignia, Fasure stated that, “He (Aregbesola) is a Grand patron of Omoluabi Caucus but he is not directly involved in the running of the group. The group has a leader and they have coordinators across the state. The Oranmiyan House is the coordinating centre.”
When contacted by The Point on Tuesday over the development, the former governor refused to comment as he declined to answer phone calls or respond to WhatsApp messages.