Members of the Osun State All Progressives Congress loyal to the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, have said the state Governor, Gboyega Oyetola’s fight with them cost him his re-election.
Members of the faction, known as The Osun Progressives, spoke, in separate interviews with The PUNCH on Sunday.
Those who spoke with our correspondents included the Leader of TOP, Lowo Adebiyi; the Chairman of the Aregbesola’s faction of the APC, Mr Rasaq Salinsile and the factional Publicity Secretary, Abiodun Agboola,
The Independent National Electoral Commission had on Sunday declared Senator Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party the winner of Saturday’s governorship election in the state.
The Returning Officer for the election and Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, said Adeleke got a total of 403,371 votes to beat the incumbent governor who polled 375,027 votes in the keenly contested race.
Before his electoral loss, Oyetola, had in 2018 defeated Adeleke after a run-off, with the support of his predecessor, Aregbesola and former Lagos state governor and now, APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
Shortly after winning the election, Oyetola, who was the Chief of Staff to Aregbesola for eight years, parted ways with the interior affairs minister and his loyalists, who alleged that the governor abandoned his predecessor’s programmes.
A former Osun State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs during Aregbesola’s administration, Kolapo Alimi, had in an interview on July 2 predicted that Oyetola would not win re-election for betraying Aregbesola’s trust, an allegation the governor denied.
Shedding light on the challenges which robbed the party of victory, the Chairman of the APC faction in Osun state, Salinsile, said it was obvious that the lack of unity in the party allegedly caused by “Oyetola’s politics of segregation” cost the APC victory at the poll.
Salinsile said he had seen the electoral defeat ahead of time and ran to party leaders, including the ex-national chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande, for help.
According to him, the APC presidential candidate, Senator Bola Tinubu, once sent an emissary to address their grievances but the person never returned to collect the complaint list.
He further said Oyetola should not have played politics of segregation or blacklisted anyone linked to Aregbesola.
The factional chairman stated, “But it is an obvious fact that Governor Isiaka Oyetola came to destroy our party. We all worked as a united family to install him as governor in spite of all odds. But the moment he got there, he started politics of segregation and divide and rule tactics which he thought he could use to whip everybody back in line; particularly, he was against anything Aregbesola.
“How on earth can you be a Chief of Staff to a sitting governor for good eight years and pretended to him to be what you were not. I have never met that kind of person in my life and I am not a young man.
“What happened is very unfortunate, but this affords us a lesson to learn. We are now going to the drawing board and then restrategise for 2023. We believe that before the 2023 elections, we would have had a strong and united APC in Osun State.”
Adebiyi debunked insinuations that the caucus loyal to Aregbesola did not vote for the APC, insisting that TOP mobilised members for the election.
“We issued a release before the election that all members should vote for APC and they complied. All of us in TOP worked for the APC, but unfortunately, victory was not on our side,” he explained.
He assured that ToP members would not defect from the party, saying the loss of the governorship poll was a challenge which the party would collectively overcome.
The TOP boss said, “We are going to overcome this challenge. Nobody is thinking of defecting; defection is not the next thing to do now. Our own is to sit down together, restrategise and chart the way forward. We have important elections ahead in 2023, we will work on how to win the elections.”
In his assessment, the Director-General of Bola Ahmed Tinubu Sanwo-Olu Projects, Mr Emmanuel Amuwo, in a telephone interview with The PUNCH, noted,” The Osun State election showed that the citizens are no longer concerned about the political party, but the individual. My take is this: Adeleke does not have anything good to offer Osun.”
In his reaction, Oyetola said the party leadership would respond to the result of the poll after studying it.
The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Ismail Omipidan, said this in a statement obtained in Osogbo on Sunday.
When contacted, Media Adviser to the Osun APC Chairman loyal to the governor, Kola Olabisi, said the party was still reviewing the situation and would take a position on the outcome of the poll.
Olabisi said, “Anything built on fraud cannot stand. The top echelon of the party will issue a statement on the matter at the appropriate time.
“We are still looking at the situation and our position will be made known at the appropriate time.”
Commissioner flays faction
Reacting to Salinsile’s claim, Special Adviser to Osun Governor on Political Affairs, Sunday Akere, accused members of Aregbesola’s group of working against the APC at the governorship poll.
He however said Oyetola and his men were not bothered, adding that they would be interested in how voting out APC government would get Aregbesola’s men patronage in the PDP.
The PDP Governors Forum has extended its congratulatory message to Adeleke.The PDP-GF in a statement by its Chairman and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, said Adeleke’s victory was a reflection of the wish of the electorate in Osun State.
Ayu in his reaction described the defeat of the PDP 12 years ago as a judicial coup, noting that four years ago, the PDP won the governorship, “but Adeleke was robbed of victory in broad daylight.”
A former chairman, Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory, Dino Melaye described Adeleke’s victory as “a good omen for the PDP come 2023.”
The governor-elect, while speaking on his victory, promised to ensure good governance for the people of the state.
The PDP vice-presidential candidate in a tweet congratulated the party, the people of Osun and the winner of the governorship election.
Okowa tweeted, “I congratulate the people of Osun State and my brother, Senator Ademola Adeleke, the @OfficialPDPNig candidate for a decisive victory at yesterday’s polls.”
Makinde in his congratulatory message said that the power of the people had triumphedMakinde in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Taiwo Adisa, hailed the voters across the 30 council areas of Osun state for standing by the PDP and staying resolute to ensure that their votes counted.
Our correspondents observed that unlike the June 18 governorship poll in Ekiti, the police and INEC made attempts to prevent vote buying as voting points were isolated from where party agents could monitor candidates voters voted for after paying them.
Some voters, who confided in The PUNCH, said although they collected money, they voted for candidates of their choice.
In its post-election assessment, the Centre for Democracy and Development said the poll witnessed impressive voter enthusiasm despite apprehension about the possibility of violent disruption.
The Director, CDD West Africa, Idayat Hassan, in a statement on Sunday, expressed the hope that the improvements recorded in the recent elections would be replicated in the conduct of the 2023 general elections.
Elder statesman, Prof Wole Soyinka, said the poll won by Adeleke, indicated that the slain Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige’s voice resounded from the grave.
The Nobel laureate spoke in a statement on Sunday titled, “Osun State elections: Ige’s voice.”
Ige, also an ex-governor of old Oyo State, was assassinated by suspected gunmen at his Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State, home on December 23, 2001.
