Degenerating Osun APC Crisis Worries Party Chieftains

As crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Osun State might not have festered till date if fairness, unity and collective purpose wasn’t jettisoned by the administration Governor Gboyega Oyetola. And the degenerating crisis is giving many chieftains of the party sleepless nights.

THISDAY investigations have revealed that due to controversies surrounding the emergence and eventual assumption of office of Governor Gboyega Oyetola, efforts were not spared to unite members of the APC political family in the state, However, rather than the Governor and his loyalists strengthening and rejuvenating the party for the consolidation of progressive legacies in the state, it began an unprecedented politics of segregation and exclusivity against members of the party that brought him to power in 2018.

A source, who is chieftain of the party and is close to the two camps told THISDAY that party members who wanted to ensure that the crisis did not degenerate, at its earlier stage, formed The Osun Progressives (TOP), a caucus of the party in a bid to right the wrongs of the factional party chairman, Gboyega Famodun .

Also another top party chieftain in the state who also prayed not to be mentioned because of the height of the crisis said Governor Oyetola’s strong position not to associate with anyone who believed in his predecessor, Rauf Aregbesola’s administration was the first in the series of strokes he used to further divide the party.

He said: “Since the creation of Osun in August 27, 1991, Osun has been democratically governed with Osun West Senatorial District taking the first shot but ruling for just less than 24 months; Osun East Senatorial District ruling for eight years; Osun Central Senatorial District where Governor Oyetola hails from would have ruled for 15 and half years by the end of his tenure. With three Governors: Chief Bisi Akande, four years; Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, seven and half years; and Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola who would have spent four years at the end of his first term by 2022 being from the same Ifelodun/Boripe/ Odo-Otin Federal Constituency as Oyinlola.”

According to the chieftain, in 2018, the agitation for the Osun West Senatorial District to produce the next governor was fierce and huge. It was so fierce that all party leaders, starting from the elders, Agba Osun caucus of APC, majority of the State Executive Council, and virtually all organs of the party were hell bent on “West Lokan Agenda.

“In spite of this clamour, the then Chief of Staff, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, was produced as the APC candidate for the state gubernatorial election,” he recalled.

The party leader noted that “decision alone fragmented the party such that a section of the party decamped to the ADP, costing APC at least 49,000 votes in the 2018 election.