By Ayodele Oni
More calls for the restructuring of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun state have been intensified as a former House of Representatives member and Chairman of the Omisore Campaign Organisation, Mr Ajibola Famurewa, called for a change in the leadership.
He was of the view that the party’s poor performance in recent elections was not the fault of former Deputy Governor, Senator Iyiola Omisore.
Famurewa, who also served as Director General of the Osun APC Campaign Council in 2018, while reacting to the party’s recent gubernatorial loss on TVC, said the party is battling a crisis of trust and an exclusionary leadership style that has alienated the majority of its members.
Reviewing the outcome of the last elections across the three senatorial districts in the state, Famurewa said the APC won only three out of 10 local governments in Osun Central, where most of the party leaders come from.
In Osun West, the zone of the party’s candidate, he noted that the party also secured three out of 10 local governments, while the APC won five local governments in Osun East, where Senator Omisore hails from.
“To me, I don’t believe that Senator Omisore worked against the party,” Famurewa said.
He attributed the losses to internal problems, stating: “We have problems in the party. The majority of the members have lost trust in the leadership of the party.”
When asked for his suggestions for the APC’s national leadership to solve the problems, the former lawmaker said the party needs new leadership that will be inclusive and carry all members along.
“We need to change the leadership of the party. Let us get a leader that will listen to everybody and carry all party members along. Not the kind of leadership that will select those he or she wants to work with,” he said.
Famurewa also faulted the distribution of federal appointments in the state, describing it as lopsided.
“The federal appointments in Osun State were lopsided. About 28 appointments went to the group of our leader, former Governor Gboyega Oyetola. This kind of situation won’t bring unity in the party,” he added.
He recalled that after the 2022 governorship election loss, party members appealed to the leadership to change tactics and be more inclusive, but said nothing had changed.
“After we lost the 2022 gubernatorial election, we appealed to our leader to change tactics and carry everybody along instead of some set of people who behave like lords over other but even now, the same set of caucus are still running things,” Famurewa stated.
He further alleged that candidates for the last elections emerged from the same caucus.
“The three senatorial candidates, the nine House of Representatives candidates and the 26 House of Assembly candidates emerged from the same caucus,” he said.
Concluding, Famurewa said restructuring is critical if the APC hopes to be competitive again in Osun.
“We need to restructure our party in the state if we want to win elections in the near future,” he said.
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