Differences in political ideologies that has lately been dividing the All Progressives Congress in Osun State has become manifest and lurks on as the Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, boycotted the birthday celebration of his party man, Fatai Diekola, who used to be his right hand.
The event, which was held on Monday, 26th of September, 2016 at the Atlantis Civic Centre in Osogbo, witnessed the absence of Aregbesola and all APC Federal lawmakers, who were said to have also boycotted on the directive given by Ogbeni.
A source close to the party said that the differences began in 2015, when the election to the Federal House of Representative was to be conducted.
“Even on that day, there was a programme slated for the governor to handle. There was supposed to be a remark on that day from him but he did not show up neither did any of the federal lawmakers from Osun state.
“Prince Gboyega Famodu, played a fatherly role on that day. The APC State Chairman, Gboyega Famodu, Former State Chairman, Elder Adelowo Adebiyi, Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon Akintunde Adegboye and a few others were the only ranking members of the All Progressives Congress on that day. This does not speak well of our party when there is no representative from Abuja on such a red letter day.”
Prior to the build up to the 2015 general elections, Hon. Lasun Yussuff, Alhaji Fatai Diekola and Rauf Aregbesola were best of friends, politically. They had a lot of things in common in that Alh. Diekola was the chairman of Oranmiyan Campaign Committee that led to the emergence of Rauf Aregbesola as the Governor of Osun State in 2010.
Likewise, it is on record that, Hon. Lasun Yussuff, also had a hand in the emergence of Ogbeni as the governor in 2010. The duo, who are from Osun Central Senatorial District, were reputed for their stewardship, which led to the emergence of all the democratically elected governors in the state, both under the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) on a number of occasions.
It was gathered that the debacle in Osun APC, which began innocuously enough, started when the decision on who to bear Osogbo/Olorunda/Irepodun/Orolu Federal Constituency’s flag at the Federal House of Representative was to be made and coincidentally, the duo of Diekola and Lasun happens to be progeny of the Constituency hence, the battle of kinsmen ensued.
“The fact that the two of them showed interest was a hard nut for the party to crack. They both control a large number of supporters, which made it quite uneasy for the party to rule them out.
“Diekola, is a home based man. Everything going on in the state, especially those of utmost interest to our party he is always part of. He does not go out of the state except for obvious reasons. These are grounds that ought to have guided the decision in the foremost instance. “Lasun Yussuff is completely different from him ( Diekola) in some areas as related to their political qualities.”
As it seemed as though a tough decision for Aregbesola when the duo showed interest in participating in the contest, Aregbesola elected to throw his weight behind Hon. Lasun Yussuff at the detriment of Fatai Diekola – one wouldn’t know the accord between Aregbesola and Lasun but to ensure peace, Aregbesola should have maintained a neutral ground even if he had to support one of them.
Interestingly, there were coffee shop talks that the former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, did not fancy the person of Hon. Lasun Yussuff, after he emerged the Deputy Speaker of the House of Reps. Already, there were factions of Aregbesola and Diekola in the state and it should also be borne in mind that Aregbesola is a political son of Asiwaju.
“If you recall, Jagaban alongside Aregbesola visited Hon Lasun when the tussle for the House of Reps Leadership was still ongoing for him to preempt his own ambition for the purpose Femi Gbajabiamila, who is one of Tinubu’s cohorts. Aregbesola went with Tinubu based on the leverage he had – he supported Lasun when he was contesting at the state level – to convince Hon Lasun into compromising his deputy speakership ambition for Gbajabiamila.
“The stalemated meeting they had left an indelible mark in the heart of Jagaban and for such reason, Lasun is now an outlander in Tinubu’s domain and perhaps a little fringe relationship with Aregbesola, which is just in the areas of political support.”
However, the entire ball game has now summed up to three factions in the party, although slightly three but evidently two: Diekola, Aregbesola and Lasun factions. Hon. Lasun, according to feelers in his camp, is on a mission of signing a large number of APC members to his own camp.
The three factions in Osun APC is arguably a complete replica of what of is ongoing at the national level of the party given the recent drama erupting from the individualism of Tinubu and John Odogie-Oyegun but not to digress into that, Osun is still in the spotlight.
By implication, the remains of the political movies shot in the days of Obafemi Awolowo’s led Action Group in 1964 would soon arrive the Osun cinema as those factors responsible for the eventual collapse of AG are not dissimilar to the operations of today’s APC; Individual and ideological differences and political differences.
“Of course, we all don’t know the position of Baba Akande. Somehow unimpressed with Aregbesola’s policies lately and for sure Baba is sitting on the fence right now. None of the factions we are having can boast of Baba’s support.”
However, the position of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Senator Isiaka Adeleke on the lingering issue is still a bit dicey as it is believed in some quarters that, the duo are not in support of any of the factions, that they still seem to stand on a neutral ground.
This alone, spells doom for the APC if all aggrieved factions refuse to bury hatchets before the 2018 gubernatorial election in the state. APC will split and will be no more.
There is every propensity however, that an alliance of Diekola and Lasun factions would spell doom for Aregbesola in APC and in the state. Given the home advantage possessed by Diekola and the Federal and Financial might of the Deputy Speaker, the 2018 gubernatorial election could well be won – the people within and outside the spheres of APC want someone who can look Aregbesola in the eye and as a fact, Diekola, unlocked it when he turned down the entreaties of Ogbeni. The fusion of Diekola and Lasun potentials could grant the dying wish of the people of the state.
Mustapha Aleem wrote in from Osogbo via aleem_mustapha@yahoo.com.
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