Osun: 2022: Former APC governorship aspirants warn against governor Oyetola

Three prominent leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State have warned the party against fielding Governor Adegboyega Oyetola in 2022, saying the party may lose to the opposition if the governor is represented. They expressed readiness to work together to rescue the party from what they described as imminent collapse and electoral loss.

The immediate past Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Lasun Yussuff, former Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Mr Najeem Salaam and former Secretary to Osun State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, jointly submitted this assertion.

The trio who also contested the ticket of the party with Oyetola in 2018 lamented the governor’s  politics of exclusiveness and disunity since he took over.

They however promised to work together, restructure the party and position it for victory in 2022.

Speaking at a special meeting of The Osun Progressives (TOP), a caucus of the party, Salaam said it was disheartening that genuine APC members who worked for the emergence of Oyetola were being sidelined, treated as outcasts and regarded as nonentities by the governor and his supporters.

Salaam alleged that Oyetola was mismanaging the party because he is an opportunist who got the party’s ticket on a platter of gold.

“Lasun Yussuff, Mr Moshood Adeoti and myself have resolved to jettison our personal political interest, and have accepted to work with whoever emerges among us as the candidate of the party in 2022. I hereby urge all genuine party members to work in unison to realise the dreams of the majority in a bid to salvage our beloved party and our darling state of Osun,” Adeoti said.

Also speaking, the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yussuff who regarded Oyetola as an impostor, said the party is in disarray and needed to be restructured.

He said he decided to join hands with other leaders in the party because of his love for the Progressives, the need to return it to the genuine Progressives fold and reposition it to winning ways.

According to Yussuff, APC ran into problem in 2018 because its leaders refused to allow collective leadership to play out, accusing them of imposing Oyetola on the APC members.

He submitted that the leaders are now ready to embrace collective leadership which will start from presenting a candidate from their camp against Oyetola during the the party primary.

In the same vein, Adeoti expressed surprise that a governor who won with just 482 votes would still be comfortable chasing away quality APC members and leaders.

It is a case of double standard and unfairness for Oyetola to dissociate himself from policies, programmes and projects of his predecessor, Aregbesola, stating that, Oyetola, as a Chief of Staff was actively involved in every decision of the government.

The former SSG bemouned the non-challance of the elders of the APC to settlement of misunderstanding in the party before it snowballed into a full-blown crisis.

The Chairman speaks

The factional State Chairman, Mr Rasaq Salinsile said it was unfortunate that the party finds itself in the current mess, saying the crisis would have been averted or settled had Oyetola been a genuine progressive and a fair to all parties.

Salinsile said the party has decided to choose a candidate from Osun West Senatorial District in the 2022 governorship election.

Suzan O.