Osun APC Faction Fingers Aregbesola In Planned Protest To Discredit Gov Oyetola

By Ayodele Oni

Things are yet to be at ease within the rank and file of members of the All Progressive Congress, (APC) in Osun state, despite the poor outing of the ruling party during last month governorship election.

Incumbent Governor Gboyega Oyetola placed second after Ademola Adeleke, candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) in the election.

The defeat of the incumbent has been traced to the unending crisis in the ruling party which has also led to two factions of APC in the state.

Minister of interior and former Governor of the state, Rauf Aregbesola is leading one of the factions which is made up of mainly political appointees in his eight years tenure.

Factional chairman of the party, loyal to Governor Oyetola, Gboyega Famodun has accused members loyal to Aregbesola of planning to forment crisis aiming at denigrating Governor Oyetola.

A statement by his media assistant, Kola Olabisi in Osogbo said “self-styled The Osun Progressives (TOP), has fine tuned, funded and concluded a skillfully orchestrated sinister plan to promote a large-scale disturbance in the political firmament of the state.

“It was learnt that a leader of TOP from the West Senatorial District of the state has been saddled with the responsibility of mobilizing the members of the group across the state and some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with a view to sponsoring series of protests against the state leadership of the APC under the chairmanship of Prince Gboyega Famodun, across the states and at the APC Headquarters in Abuja.

“It would be recalled that TOP members worked in cahoots with the PDP during the last governorship election in Osun State on the directive of their leaders while the said leaders merely flashed their voters cards fraudulently indicating that they voted for Governor Gboyega Oyetola as a smokescreen designed to fake their continuous loyalty to the APC.

“It was observed that all the TOP members across the state openly celebrated the pyrrhic governorship victory of the PDP candidate over that of the APC candidate while the said TOP members were openly denigrating the APC, Oyetola, Famodun and other principal members of the party through verifiable write-ups and recorded  audio messages in the social media.

“It was also gathered that the intention of the said TOP leadership under the self-asserted patronship of the Interior Minister, who was the immediate-past governor of the state, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, is to go for the jugular of the leadership of the APC at all the various levels across the state after they had patently and conscientiously worked for the PDP victory in the governorship election.

“The sing songs of the handlers of TOP have been that they are desirous to reorganize the APC which had successfully held its party primaries at all levels of the party across the state, backed with the statutory tenure in accordance with the relevant provisions of the constitution of the party.

“It is urgently expedient for all the genuine members, leaders, supporters and apologists of our party, the APC, to be at alert and resist any  intention  of any group of disgruntled elements who are PDP members in spirit, but APC in body with the sole motive to bring down the formidable wall of our party for selfish reasons.

“Report further revealed that part of the intentions of TOP is to work towards putting the leadership of the APC under their new political ally in Senator Ademola Adeleke under whose administration they wish to reap their unalloyed support  by way of appointments and patronages during the last governorship election.

“Another targeted intention of the inglorious TOP handlers is to create series of violent protests across the state as a prelude or pre condition for the creation of a state of emergency in the state in order to create a false impression that peace has eluded the perpetually peaceful state under the administration of Governor Oyetola.

“The aim of seeking for the hands of some PDP members in the planned protests in both Osun State and Abuja, is to create a false impression that TOP members are more in number than what they are actually.

“It is for this reason that we are calling the attention of the National Headquarters of our party under the chairmanship of Senator Adamu Abdullahi, to be in the know of the unsavoury development being suspiciously funded, directed and aided by a serving Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We are also, by this development, imploring the Inspector-General of Police, the Osun State Police Command and other sister statutory security outfits with the local security outfits to be on red alert with a view to nip in the bud any sinister motive of any individual or a group of disgruntled elements to plunge the state into an avoidable anarchic situation under whatever guise.