- Says Former Governor Culpable Of Anti-Party, Should Be Blacklisted
The Chairman, Omoluabi Progressives Caucus, a caucus of the All Progressives Congress APC in Osun State has said the faction of the party led by the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola is jittery about its popularity and that of its leader, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
The caucus in a statement by its Chairman, Reverend Adelowo Adebiyi in Osogbo on Wednesday held that the political strength and popularity of the caucus and its members who have for a long time been the pillar of progressive politics in the state.
The statement is in response to a suit filed at a Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, by counsels of the APC led by the Osun APC Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, a lackey of Oyetola on Monday.
Osun Defender had reported that the suit is seeking to stop the activities of the Omoluabi Caucus who the state exco suspended in 2023, declaring the caucus illegal and stopping Ogbeni Aregbesola, from leading its activities.
Adebiyi submitted that the suit registers a clear case of frustrated politicians who did not understand the fact that the caucus is not a faction, but a tendency within the Osun APC, which is not an aberration to the law.
THE FULL STATEMENT
We read in the news a report of a purported suit instituted by Gboyega Oyetola-led faction of the APC against our leader and former governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on the formation of Omoluabi Progressives Caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
While respondents in the said suit are yet to be served, we note that the Gboyega Oyetola-led faction of the APC is no doubt jittery of the political strength and popularity of Aregbesola and the Omoluabi caucus who have for decades been the pillar of progressive politics in Osun.
The purported litigation is a clear case of frustrated individuals who had thought that their mischiefs, shenanigans and lies would have negatively affected Aregbesola’s popularity, but were surprised that his popularity and influence are waxing stronger.
To the glory of God, Omoluabi is now a household name in the progressive family and Osun politics in general. That must have been giving the Oyetola-led APC headache to the extent of approaching the court on frivolous claims.
We had at inception declared that Omoluabi “is a caucus within the APC.” We are not a faction. We are the genuine foundation members of the party and we have no intention of abandoning the ship of the party as it navigates the most turbulent waters. We are no sprinters, but long-distance runners and we will still be standing when all the fair-weathers have gone.
May we school the litigants and their followers that a caucus or group is different from a faction and that the right of assembly and association is constitutionally guaranteed. May we also remind the plaintiffs that a group called the Legacy was formed within the APC in 2017 in support of Oyetola’s governorship ambition without any eyebrow from any quarters. What about the IleriOluwa group?
The Oyetola-led APC has again shown its sign of weakness and inability to manage party affairs with lack of character and competence. We reiterate that the Oyetola leadership of the APC is inimical and toxic to the development of the party.
Of a fact is the continuous move by Oyetola and his followers to frustrate any reconciliation move to unite Aregbesola and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. They do not want the crisis they created through mischief and spiritual means to settle between Aregbesola and Tinubu so as to continue calling themselves what they are not. The political jobbers who had assumed leadership positions and direct the affairs of the party now would no doubt continue to fan the embers of discord for their selfish purposes at the expense of the party.
On the anti-party allegations against Aregbesola and some members of the Omoluabi caucus, we have continued to challenge our accusers to bring out evidence(s) to prove their allegation, which they have failed to do for over a year.
If there is anyone (guilty of anti-party by definition) to be totally expelled and blacklisted from the APC, the person should be Oyetola who because of his hatred for Aregbesola and attempts to assume the leadership of the party, maliciously vandalised the political duplex building bequeathed to him by his predecessor. He introduced bitter politics and division to Osun APC with an attempt to bring down Aregbesola at all costs.
While Oyetola was busy casting aspersions on Aregbesola and destroying his legacies, he was indirectly demarketing the APC and poisoning the minds of the electorate against the party. An example of this is the mismanagement of Osun Youths Empowerment Scheme and O’ Meal vendors. It is on record that Oyetola didn’t recruit any OYES cadets in spite of the depletion of officers of the scheme to about 6,000 from 20,000. The social mobilisation programmes put in place by the progressive administration of Aregbesola were discontinued; party members were not treated well and all the channels of empowering the party members were blocked. Instead of deploying the political power with him to serve the people, he was only serving his cronies.
Of importance is the bastardisation of the education sector by the Oyetola administration which brought Osun to the 35th position in WAEC performance. His ill-thought-out actions drastically reduced the love of the people for APC and they paid him back in his own coin during the elections.
It is also on record that as of 2019, Osun APC had 23 House of Assembly members, six House of Representatives members and two Senators. But Oyetola who allowed himself to be misdirected by political jobbers, massacred all the political structures that had for long been winning elections for the progressive party. The result of that is the electoral misfortune suffered by the APC in 2022 and 2023 governorship and general elections. We note that after his shameful defeat in 2022, Oyetola withdrew from the party and election activities. It is on record that he didn’t campaign for any of the National Assembly candidates in 2023. He reluctantly did a skeletal and “don’t-kill-me” campaign for some House of Assembly candidates because he believed he would need the assembly if his petition against the July 16, 2022 governorship election was successful. This is another evidence of Oyetola’s selfishness. Oyetola does not have the capacity to lead a party at the ward, not to talk of local government or state, because he is petty, cheap and embittered.
Since they (Oyetola’s APC) have filed the suit, we will wait to have concerned individuals served before adequately replying to the watery issues raised by the misfits who have seized the APC and made it rudderless.
We in the Omoluabi Caucus remain undaunted; we are staunch progressives, deeply rooted in the principles of Omoluabi, and this guiding light will always illuminate our path.
Adelowo Adebiyi
Former Chairman
Osun APC
Sodiq Yusuf is a trained media practitioner and journalist with considerable years of experience in print, broadcast, and digital journalism. His interests cover a wide range of causes in politics, governance, sports, community development, and good governance.
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