BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
For watchers of political developments in Osun State, the ruling All Progressives Congress may be preparing the ground for possible self-destruct. Political analysts say the coming months may turn out to be trying times for the ruling party as followers and supporters of the incumbent Governor, Ghoyega Oyetola, and those of the immediate past governor and now Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, battle to settle old scores, once and for all. The next governorship election, already slated for July 16, 2022, observers say, presents a golden opportunity to do just that.
Since Oyetola succeeded Aregbesola in 2018, their once congenial and vibrant relationship has taken the back seat, giving way to cold and impassive interactions whenever occasions demand. Though the two leaders have severally denied the existence of any rift between them, actions and behaviours of their supporters and loyalists more than lend credence to the claim that things are falling apart within them and in the ruling party in the state.
Having noticed that the duo’s feud was affecting cohesion in Osun APC, the party’s national leaders, Bola Tinubu and Bisi Akande made frantic attempts to settle their differences in December, 2020, at Akande’s country home, Ila-Oragun. The result was that both Oyetola and Aregbesola made the best of the meeting by trying their best to play down their differences because of their relationship with Asiwaju Tinubu and Baba awon omo keeke, as Chief Akande is fondly called.
While Aregbesola regards Tinubu as his political godfather, Oyetola is said to be a nephew to the former Governor of Lagos State. Thus, the two have done their best to avoided washing any dirty linens in public. However, their loyalists and supporters would have none of that, particularly on social media. There, they would throw accusations, allegations and tirades at one another on behalf of their principals.
How the rift started
Insiders told The Point that after Aregbesola had campaigned for Oyetola, who served as his Chief of Staff till 2018 and assisted him to emerge as Governor, the minister was still interested in calling the shots in the APC in Osun State as the leader of the party in the state would do. But this idea did not go down well with Governor Oyetola and his core loyalists. In order to ensure that he did not give any chances for Aregbesola to take over the party’s structure, he allegedly did not appoint those considered to be Aregbesola’s strong loyalists into his kitchen cabinet. This, it was learnt, really angered Aregbesola’s camp.
“One thing you must know is that a governor of a state is the leader of the ruling political party in that state. To ensure that he has full grip of the party and government, he would have to work with those he can trust. Even if he considers those who worked with Aregbesola when he was the governor of the state as commissioners or special advisers, they would have to transfer their loyalty to Oyetola. That’s what it should be,” a top government official told The Point in strict confidence.
Aside from the issue of appointments, The Point also learnt that Aregbesola was not happy with Governor Oyetola because he seemingly failed to throw his weight behind him in the course of the consideration for his ministerial appointment. It was gathered that the governor had a plan of rewarding Senator Iyiola Omisore with the ministerial slot for working for his victory in the 2018 governorship re-rerun in the state.
“It was also revealed that their rift actually took a sharp nose dive when Oyetola reversed some of the education related policies of Aregbesola’s government which the former governor had considered legacy policies.”
It was also revealed that their rift actually took a sharp nosedive when Oyetola reversed some of the education related policies of Aregbesola’s government, which the former governor had considered legacy policies. That action by the Oyetola administration was said to have infuriated Aregbesola. One of these policies is the controversial single school uniform Aregbesola introduced in 2013 for all public primary and secondary schools in the state. When it was announced back then, it was vehemently opposed but the government had its way.
Also the re-classification of the public school system and the abolition of single-sex schools across the state were some of the issues reviewed by Oyetola’s administration. Others include the introduction of ‘Opon Imo,’ otherwise referred to as the tablet of knowledge, issuance of primary school leaving certificates, change of schools’ identities, ownership of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, operations of Osun State University, the merger of basic and high schools across many communities, among others.
Though the Governor had explained the rationale behind the reversal of some of these policies as borne out of “Thank You” tour across the state after his electoral victory, some people have argued that it could not be entirely so even though they acknowledged that popular opinion favoured a reversal of some of those policies.
Meanwhile, a chieftain of Osun APC, Sunday Akere blamed loyalists and supporters of the two leading politicians for exacerbating the rift. He claimed that “Aregbesola and Oyetola are best of friends.”
“Their supporters and loyalists are the ones engaging in unnecessary tantrums on social media. They should stop it,” he counseled.
2022 governorship election and Oyetola’s fate Whatever the case, 2022 is near and the alleged Aregbesola-Oyetola face-off is festering faster than anyone had thought. Although, Oyetola has not formally declared his intention of seeking a second term at the Oke-Fia Government House beyond 2022, the body language of the governor and in particular those of his allies, suggest that he is interested in second term.
The Governor’s loyalists and supporters have been canvassing for his return in 2022; while some stakeholders in the state have been endorsing the governor for second term. As part of the spade work for Governor Oyetola’s eventual declaration whenever he deems it fit, the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Civic Engagement has been meeting with traditional rulers, politicians, community leaders and residents of the state in what it tagged “Governor’s Family Meeting.”
At these meetings, currently ongoing across the state, participants have been showering encomiums on Governor Oyetola and praying that his second term dream would come true. At these meetings, commissioners and other aides have been calling on the people of the state to support their principal.
Insiders revealed to The Point that the defection of Senator Iyiola Omisore to the ruling APC was part of the strategies of the Governor to win Osun East in the forthcoming poll. Omisore, a former deputy governor of the state, who also served one term as senator for Osun East, moved to APC from the Social Democratic Party. This sudden romance with Governor Oyetola started in 2018 when the former lawmaker helped the ruling party win a close election that brought in Governor Oyetola.
Omisore was the candidate of the SDP in that election. To further compensate him, Oyetola appointed Omisore’s running mate, Yemi Lawal, as Commissioner for Youths and Sports. An insider alleged that Omisore was accepted into the party in order to wrestle control of the zone with Aregbesola, who is also from Osun East, ahead of 2022. When Omisore officially joined the APC recently, his supporters escorted him to the registration point at his unit in Moore, Ile-Ife, with chants of “Oyetola for second term.” He was welcomed into the party by the Deputy Governor, Benedict Alabi; and Gboyega Famodun, Chairman of the State Caretaker Committee of the party.
The Point learnt that the admission of Omisore into the APC in the state did not enjoy the support of many chieftains of the party.
It was also gathered that another strategy employed by Governor Oyetola to ensure that he continued to rule Osun beyond 2022 was the luring of the state chairman of the party, Gboyega Famodun, to his side. Famodun’s tenure had lapsed in October 2018 but he has retained the position because Oyetola has reportedly not allowed the party to organise state congresses to elect new leaders in the state to the chagrin of those who wanted Famodun out of the way.
Insiders noted that this was to ensure Famodun emerged the party’s Chairman for a second term in order to midwife Oyetola’s emergence as the party’s candidate for the 2022 gubernatorial poll.
Expectedly, the elongation of Famodun’s stay in office has further deepened the crisis in the party as some chieftains criticised this and demanded congress that would usher in fresh executives for the party in the state.
Settling of scores
Aregbesola’s camp appears not to be relaxing in ensuring that Oyetola does not last beyond 2022 in the Government House. A lot seem to give credence to the allegation that the minister’s supporters are working round the clock to settle old scores with the governor by working against his anticipated second term bid.
Aregbesola’s foot soldiers and campaign groups have been mobilising and engaging with key stakeholders in the state, especially those who lost out politically since the coming of the present administration. They readily blame the Governor’s styles. One of these groups is Oranmiyan, a socio-political group in the state. Some civil society organisations and market women are said to have pitched tent with the Aregbesola camp in the state, ready to dislodge Governor Oyetola next year.
To frustrate Oyetola’s emergence for second term, The Point gathered that loyalists of Aregbesola in Osun APC formed a political pressure group called The Osun Progressives. Members of the TOP, who are mainly former appointees of the minister, asserted that the group was formed, not by Aregbesola, but that he was only made the Chairman of the caucus’ Board of Trustees.
Nevertheless, it was learnt that the rift between the two politicians actually gave birth to TOP.
Once the formation of TOP was announced, the leadership of the ruling party moved quickly to ban and declare it unconstitutional. The elders’ caucus of the party, Igbimo Agba, also suspended TOP’s chairman, Adelowo Adebiyi, for alleged anti-party activities.
But TOP recently petitioned the Osun State Commissioner of Police, Olawale Olokode, over a recent comment of the State Commissioner for Works and Transport, Remi Omowaiye, who declared the group persona non grata at a meeting of the party in Ilesa West Local Government.
The petition was said to have been written by the Secretary of the group, Adelani Baderinwa, a former State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, who served under Aregbesola’s administration.
Again, recently, a strong ally of Aregbesola and former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in the state, who is also a TOP chieftain, Kolapo Alimi, was suspended by the Executive of his Elerin Ward 9, Irepodun South Local Council Development Area, Erin-Osun. Alimi, according to his letter of suspension, was accused of anti-party activities.
Apart from Alimi, a former Chairman of the party, Adelowo Adebiyi; and the Caretaker Secretary of Osun APC, Rasaq Salinsile, who are in the camp of Aregbesola, kicked against the suspension and described it as “a ruse and unconstitutional.”
About 24 hours after the suspension, a notice was issued by the ruling party through its State Legal Adviser, Adegoke Ogunsola, who overruled the decision of the Ward Executives and declared the suspension null and void.
“The new undemocratic move by some unpopular people to shUt the democratic space in clear negation of progressive ideals is a clear call to duty by all The Osun Progressives and all lovers of democracy to rise against the emerging dictatorship in Osun – the cradle of Yoruba race, the home of progressive politics in Nigeria”
The legal adviser, in the statement he issued to announce the nullification of the suspension, confirmed the fact that all was not well with the party in the state.
He said, “I wish to state, on behalf of the APC Osun State, that the recent political activities, conduct and derogatory utterances of Barr Kolapo Alimi, the immediate past Commissioner for Local Government in the state and a political associate of the immediate past Governor of Osun State, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, against the Governor of the state, His Excellency, Alhaji Isiaka Gboyega Oyetola and the chairman of the state Caretaker Committee of APC, Prince Gboyega Famodun, are worrisome and constitute a monumental embarrassment to Osun State chapter of the APC.”
Notwithstanding the reversal of the suspension, another chieftain of the party and very close ally of Aregbesola, Bola Ilori, threw his weight behind Alimi, describing his already nullified suspension as “fake”.
His position was made known on his verified official Facebook page, and was titled, “I stand with Kolapo Alimi”.
It reads, “May all be kindly reminded that OSUN APC as of today has no legitimate party structure. The case of OSUN is quite different from the rest of the country where excos with existing valid tenure were rebranded as Caretaker Committee. Osun exco’s mandate had expired over a year before the rebranding.
“Regardless of the masturbation of the feckless impostors masquerading as ward Caretaker Committee, which to say the least, is a joke carried too far, the following should not be difficult to answer:
“Can an organ with expired mandate and not known to either APC or Nigerian Constitution validly suspend anybody?
“Can a fugitive ward exco with long expired mandate suspend any APC member when everyone just registered with the party and the so-called exco are not even sure that their own membership has been revalidated by the party, when as of today all membership are inchoate and the NEC (has) yet to release the party register to anybody?
“Can the illegal contraption called Caretaker whose members are themselves willing to contest in the yet to be constituted exco be suspending fellow potential contestants when the NEC has not announced timetable for ward congress?
“If contestants are allowed to suspend rivals, would there be any democratic space left in Nigeria?
“Does APC constitution allow for military fiat or summary suspension of members without any (fair or even unfair) hearing?
“Should expelling members be the priority of a party that formed government with just a narrow margin of less than 500 votes?”
He was quick to call on TOP members to rise against an alleged emerging dictatorship in Osun APC.
“The new undemocratic move by some unpopular people to shot the democratic space in clear negation of progressive ideals is a clear call to duty by all The Osun Progressives and all lovers of democracy to rise against the emerging dictatorship in Osun – the cradle of Yoruba race, the home of progressive politics in Nigeria,” Ilori concluded.
Meanwhile, sources have revealed that more of Aregbesola’s loyalists in the party will soon be fired as election activities approach.
“Alimi’s experience is not the first and it won’t be the last. Remember that Adebiyi, the former chairman of the party has been suspended by a caucus in the party, called Igbimo Agba. For all the loyalists of Aregbesola who formed TOP, they won’t be allowed in the party in this coming electioneering period. Because it’s already clear that their agenda is to scuttle the second term bid of Governor Oyetola. We will kick all of them out one after the other,” a chieftain of the party, who did not want to be named, informed our correspondent.
With this kind of muscle flexing and rhetoric, there seems to be a looming confrontation among loyalists of the two leaders in Osun APC, which only tact, forgiveness and willingness to let go, in the overall interest of the party and state, can prevent.
