More than a year after losing power, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has not learnt any lesson from its defeat during the 2022 governorship election. The chapter is now deck-deep in a crisis, an ill wind that won’t blow party members any good.
It was a self-inflicted wound, which could have been avoided, if reason had prevailed. However, the disaster became inevitable because party leaders elevated personal and caucus interests over the collective interest of the party.
Divided they fell on poll day, mocked by their opposition rivals and foes. The wound of the mutually assured destruction is yet to heal. The bitterness has not faded. Malice is still growing in geometric proportions.
Osun APC is waging war against itself.
The chapter has not forgiven itself. Due to the inability or refusal of top party leaders to sheathe their swords, the party is now polarised into what could be described as two ‘factions’. Reconciliation is not mooted by scattered party elders within the state, especially those who have taken sides. The seemingly dormant Southwest regional leadership of the party is helpless. It is doubtful if the Abdullahi Umar Ganduje-led National Working Committee (NWC) is cognisant of the entrenched discontent among the party fold and its implications in the long run.
The loser is not only the party but also the state. The Action Congress of Nigeria/All Progressives Congress administrations in the State of Living Springs were people-oriented. They cared about society and they displayed lofty ideas and action. They had an ideological background. In their agenda, the people came first. The development of the state was a priority.
Former Governor Adebisi Akande, a man of the old order, brought discipline, frugality, transparency, and accountability to bear on governance. There was no room for avarice, stealing, and misappropriation of public funds. He set a standard for effective governance. He accomplished much before the 2003 earthquake swept off his government.
Charismatic Chief Rauf Aregbesola is an idealist, a mobiliser, a crusader, an astute politician, and an administrator who built on the pioneering achievements of Pa Akande. He fought the infrastructure battle and recorded feats in other sectors. Although Akande only spent four years, Aregbesola spent two terms. He also handed over to a government of continuity.
Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola: reticent, innovative, and reformist, was a silent worker. He was prudent, effective, meticulous, and modest. He was an administrator per excellence. He built on the achievements of his predecessors.
However, Aregbesola’s succession plan conflicted with his party leader’s wish. Indeed, Aregbesola and his successor will reflect on the episode and reveal their inner workings in their memoirs. But it was evident that during that moment of intra-party bickering, the chapter lost its cohesion. So deep was the division that even in 2018, the party only won by a slim margin.
Aregbesola and Oyetola are Osun APC assets. It is lamentable that the two leading politicians in the state’s progressive bloc cannot combine their strengths. It should be confounding to the duo that the virile, formidable, and time-tested structure that accounted for their victories in the past is now perceived as a shadow of its glorious past.
What is striking is not what has changed in the progressive family but what has remained the same. Since the days of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Southwest’s progressives have never demonstrated the capacity for crisis resolution. Once a crack appeared on the wall, it would not be mended.
The import of a forgiving spirit is lost on many Yoruba politicians. Tolerance and accommodation are usually in short supply. Although the National Leader, President Bola Tinubu, is an epitome of tolerance and accommodation, many of his native Southwest followers lack that virtue of forgiveness.
In Osun, the lack of reconciliation led to a chain of events that boxed the combatants into the opposition.
The intra-party imbroglio in the progressive fold cleared the coast for Senator Jackson Nurudeen Ademola Adeleke to dance to the Government House in Osogbo. It appeared the divided APC leaders reveled in the intrigue, acrimony, backstabbing, strife, and rancour that was tearing their party apart without any indication that they were interested in an amicable resolution.
In the next three years, the PDP governor will continue to direct the affairs of the state as an entertainer. This is a glaring departure from the ideals of his predecessors who evinced knowledge, vision, and focus in their style of governance. They were good governance personified.
Since Osun APC is in trouble, it cannot play effectively the role of the opposition; it cannot also hold the PDP government accountable. The body language of the PDP administration in the state depicts the image that it has no rival, no opposition.
Also, the membership drive is hampered. Who wants to join a party that is not at peace with itself?
The concern now in the progressive bloc is that Osun APC may not be able to bounce back because it is not putting its house in order. While the chapter has three years to prepare, its leaders are locked in a curious war of attrition.
Much energy is being dissipated on endless conflicts by leaders who have refused to appreciate that there is strength in unity.
The two antagonistic camps in the distressed chapter revolve around the Minister of Blue Economy and the former Interior Minister. Instead of closing ranks and working together, their followers in the ‘Ilerioluwa Organisation’ and ‘TOP/Omoluabi Progressives’ are strengthening their caucuses as if the camps are replacements for the party.
There is a supremacy battle between the two caucuses as if either of the camps can electorally survive without the other.
Caucus meetings are given more prominence than party meetings. From there, party brethren fire salvos as perceived foes in their party. The warriors in Osun APC have also invaded the social media where they fight dirty, apportion blame and issue threats.
There is no common ground. The suspicion and distrust permeate the entire party structures at the state, local government, and ward levels. There is no neutrality.
Since Osun APC is out of power, its vast members are left in the cold. Although it was once the ruling party, APC has now become the opposition. The difference is clear.
The contradiction in Osun APC is that as the cracks widen, party members become more disposed to working at cross-purposes and undermining the party. The havoc wreaked by chieftains who have defected to the PDP and Labour Party (LP) is intolerable. But the atrocity of party men and women who have become internal opposition leaders in their party is absurd. It is an act of disloyalty and indiscipline.
Ironically, the gladiators tearing apart Osun APC are those who laboured to build the party and stood their ground against the PDP arrows. It is surprising that the same people who endured dehumanising tribulations, including repression and oppression by the PDP and unlawful detention in prisons so that their party could survive, are now indulging in acts that threaten the existence of their party. It speaks volumes.
During the week, chieftains of the first ‘faction’ sued the second faction for creating a division. The two camps comprise Yoruba men and women who understand the axiom that rivals do not return from the court to become friends. While the court can validate the party leadership structures, the temple of justice cannot restore love and unity among the litigating sides.
Oyetola and Aregbesola are not the progenitors of the progressive bloc in Osun. They are also not the fathers of AD, AC, and ACN that metamorphosised into the APC. They are inheritors, beneficiaries, and contributors to the progressive idea that gave content, form, predictability, and popularity to the platform. The question is: what manner of a party do they want to bequeath to the younger generation of progressives?
Osun APC needs to wake up from its phantasm urgently. Its legacies may be eroded by a succeeding administration that may not appreciate the giant strides of the past and the products of meticulous planning, sacrifice, and patriotism of Akande/ Aregbesola/ Oyetola era.
Faithful progressives in Osun should return to the table of brotherhood. Aregbesola should reconcile with his leader and elder brother, Asiwaju. This is the expectation of many Southwesterners.
The national leadership of the party should broker a truce between the two camps in the chapter. Both sides need to demonstrate the readiness to embrace peace. It is in their interest, in the interest of the party and their state.
Osun APC warriors should also properly interpret the symbol of their party, the broom. It symbolises togetherness, collective effort, unity, cohesion, and strength.
The prospects of reclaiming power will be high if these leaders come together, settle their minor differences, and present their party as a united, indivisible, and formidable platform.
The likes of Aregbesola, Oyetola, Titi Laoye-Tomori, D. Alabi, Jide Omoworare, Sheu Moshood Adeoti, Ajibola Basiru, Iyiola Omisore, Jibola Famurewa, Sunday Akere, Sunday Owoeye, Afolabi, Layi Oyeduntan, Rasaq Salensile, Adelowo Adebiyi, Adelani Baderinwa, Najeem Salam, Sikiru Ayedun, Wale Adedoyin, Rasheed Afolabi, Mudashiru Hussein, Sola Jacob-Adegbite, Bayo Adeleke, Bola Oyebamiji, Isiaka Owoade, Olalekan Badmus, Babatunde Ayeni, Remi Omowaiye, and Ayodele Asalu must jettison the bickering that has denied Osun State the beautiful days of political conviviality and togetherness, love and progress.
It is time to return the State of Living Springs to the era of colourful politicking and the Omoluabi administrative system.
The Nation Deputy Editor, Emmanuel Oladesu
January 13, 2024
