A faction of the All Progressives Congress in Osun State loyal to the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has said despite alleged manipulation of Saturday’s governorship primary, its members will remain in the party.
Governor Adegboyega Oyetola was declared the winner of the primary election having polled 222,169 votes against the 12,921 of his closest challenger, Moshood Adeoti, a former Secretary to the State Government, who was supported by Aregbesola, while a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Lasun Yusuf, scored 460 votes to place third.
Speaking exclusively with our correspondent on Sunday, the state Secretary of the faction, Lani Baderinwa, said the group had predicted all what played out during the primary.
Baderinwa recalled that the faction had expressed concern over the non-availability of the party register that was used for the congress a few hours to the primary.
He said, “I can tell you with all authority that we don’t have to get to the point of leaving the party. For now, we are studying the situation.
“We will review the situation and come up with a decision, but we are not in a hurry. We had predicted what happened yesterday (Saturday).
“We knew that was going to happen. But the good thing is that we were able to stand up and be counted despite the fact that we saw a lot of underhand things done to undermine our coming to voting centres.
“With the voters’ register not available, we definitely knew that something was amiss. So many names were missing on the list. We are still going to review a lot of things and make a decision. Definitely, we are not going to leave the APC. We are the real progressives. We will remain in the party and right the wrongs.”
Reacting to the faction’s decision to stay in the party, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Political Affairs, Sunday Akere, welcomed it, saying Oyetola had already called on aggrieved members to bury their grievances and unite in the interest of the party.
Akere told our correspondent, “The governor, as the leader of the party and father of all, has extended olive branches to other aspirants and aggrieved members of the party. He told them to join hands with him to strengthen the party towards the election.
“A winner has emerged and we expect the losers to embrace him. Their supporters are also expected to join hands with the party to have a more united front. We welcome the idea of them remaining in the party.”
Oyetola had earlier called on the two aspirants that contested with him for the governorship ticket of the APC to join him to move the state forward.
In his acceptance speech, Oyetola said the victory was made possible by members of the APC, who gave him another opportunity to face the people of Osun State to seek re-election.
He urged them to close ranks and eschew bitterness in whatever form and called on aggrieved members to have a rethink and join hands with him to further strengthen the party and deliver outstanding results at the forthcoming gubernatorial poll.
The governor stated, “Today’s victory is made possible by members of our great party, who gave us another opportunity to face the people of Osun to seek re-election. The outcome of this primary election is a victory for our party and members, who have spoken loudly through their votes.
“It is a victory for our people who trooped out in large numbers during our strategic tour of the state to inform them of our intention to seek a second term. It is a restatement of their confidence in our development agenda, which hope delivered in 2018 and performance sealed in 2022. It is evidence of their belief in sustainable development, which we brought into governance and preached every inch of the way.
“I thank you all our party members for your constant support, and especially for speaking eloquently with your massive votes in favour of our administration’s restoration and consolidation agenda.
“With this primary election now concluded, I invite us all to rededicate ourselves and the party to delivering an overwhelming victory at the gubernatorial polls to be held on Saturday, July 16, 2022. For me, we are all winners. I, therefore, extend my hand of fellowship to the other two aspirants to join me as we prepare for the July election. We are all brothers. Let’s join hands to build the state of our dream.
“Let us close ranks and eschew bitterness in whatever form. Therefore, may I use this opportunity to also ask all our aggrieved members to have a rethink and join hands with us to further strengthen our party and deliver outstanding results at the gubernatorial poll.”
He also commended the Chairman of the Osun Governorship Primary Election Committee, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq of Kwara State, and other members of the committee for conducting a hitch-free exercise.
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