The defeat of Governor Oyetola in Osun 2022 election is a big blessing to APC as well as a wakeup call to all those concerned. Those with the mindset of too much confidence should be careful. It was an embarrassment to Osun electorates for Governor Oyetola to blame Aregbesola for abandoning governance and developmental projects in Osun State. The defeat of Oyetola will reposition Osun APC to win future elections. His defeat will facilitate the conduct of local government election by the next administration. The result of the election showed that God has answered the prayer of most people in Osun State for power to shift to Osun West senatorial zone.

Governor Oyetola abandoned the Cocoa Products Industry Nigeria Limited in Ede, the first company to produce chocolate in Nigeria (SKYRUN COCOA FACTORY) has suspended its operations. The Cocoa Products Industry Nigeria Limited in Ede, (SKYRUN COCOA FACTORY) had suspended its operations. The set of Chinese running the company abandoned it in 2018. Currently, the facilities at the company are being used as stores for COVID-19 relief items donated to the State Government of Osun. It would be recalled that the company was revived by the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola administration after 15-years of being in moribund state.

With the high level of impunity and manipulations involved in the month of May APC primaries and shenanigans engaged to get rid of some people, the joke has now turned to defeat. Governor Oyetola’s group, as all its aspirants in various constituencies are laying claims to victory and confirming it with concocted figures aimed to suite their fraud. It is unheard of, and even a shameful experience, that four and three days after the primaries have been held, the governor and his collaborators in the party are unable to declare the winners in the contests. The results sheets were written in Governor Gboyega Oyetola office and the results sheets were filled with the names of the governor’s cronies who never won the primary elections.

No fewer than 10 aspirants in the All Progressives Congress (APC), Osun State, had jointly called for the cancellation of the House of Assembly and National Assembly primary elections of the party, which they described as a sham. The aspirants, who were made up of 10 for House of Assembly and two for House of Representatives, pointed accusing fingers on Governor of Osun State, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola, and alleged acts of impunity and total disregard to democratic principles on the conduct of the primaries. The aspirants contended that the direct primaries were conducted without any election material or party document like membership register, result sheets, among others.

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, 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.

That decision alone fragmented the party such that a section of the party decamped to ADP, costing APC at least 49,000 votes in the 2018 election. Eventually, the election was declared INCONCLUSIVE and a RERUN was ordered, with Alhaji Oyetola eventually winning with a slim margin. Although, many factors were responsible for the declaration of the election being INCONCLUSIVE, among which was the decamping of aggrieved section of APC Members to the ADP party – costing APC over 49,000 votes, the unpopularity of the APC’s fielded candidate as well as the general clamour for OSUN WEST DISTRICT to field the next Governor were the driving factors for APC’s unusually slim victory in the 2018 Huber elections.

Instead of considering the above factors as the main factors responsible for the declaration of the election INCONCLUSIVE, Governor Oyetola , from the inception of his administration embarked on a campaign of calumny and politics of division within the Party. Under the Oyetola administration, whoever is perceived to be associated with or harbour any interest in the legacy of immediate past administration or commitment to his predecessor is alienated from the party and government regardless of their contribution to the success of the party.

Governor Oyetola used his position as a member of the Caretaker Extraordinary and Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the APC with the support of Senator Iyiola Omisore, to influence the Chairman of the Osun Convention planning committee, Hon. Elegbeleye to declare the Governor’s group consensus list as duly elected ward Executives; TOP then petitioned the National Secretariat in the form of an appeal and eventually the Appeal Committee came, they were equally compromised by the Governor, using his influence as a member of CECPC. But one significant thing about the Appeal was during its sitting, known thugs from the Governor’s group came to disrupt the proceedings.

Digging deeper into the unpopularity of the candidate, If we compare the results of Alhaji Isiaka Gboyega Oyetola in his home local governments and that of his closest rival, the PDP in his home Local Governments, we will discover the huge difference of 21,525 votes in favour of PDP. This is significant, considering the fact that, PDP could only lead APC after the first ballot by only 353 votes.

A former governor of Osun State and current Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, said his successor, Adegboyega Oyetola, waged a war against him after becoming the governor. Aregbesola spoke in Ikire while addressing a rally held to garner support for his anointed candidate for governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress, Moshood Adeoti.

Speaking in Yoruba language, Aregbesola said he pleaded with Oyetola for about two years not to fight him, adding that his successor rejected his advice, which made him to call his supporters to salvage the party. He said, “I begged him (Oyetola) for two years; I told him that people must not mock us; I told him that he was heading for destruction. I served this state with the whole of my heart; I also positioned Oyetola so that he could succeed me in office.

I told my successor not to destroy my legacies, says ex-gov “When we came to this town (Ikire) for his campaign, we were drenched in rain from the Akire’s palace to this place. He got to the office and claimed I am his enemy; those who contested against him during our party primary he pulled closer, while he fights me. “Since Oyetola assumes office, he has waged a war against me as if I once harmed him. He claimed that I did not want him to emerge as the governor; I told him that I heard him and that now that he had been governor, what else did he want?

“I begged him for two years; I sent people to help me beg him and that he should not love me, but he must not fight me; even if he wanted to fight me, he should not abuse me and destroy my legacies. “All that I warned him not to do was what he did. He opposed what I did; all the things I did together with him for eight years, he opposed and reversed them. He thought he can destroy me through my work; nobody was pushing him, he is pushing himself. He deliberately towed that path. He waged a war against me and refused to listen to my pleas until he got rid of me.”

Governor Oyetola used a coalition of civil society organisations in Osun State to petitioned the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to sack or redeploy the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, for “abdicating his primary responsibilities for petty political fights” and for “promoting inter-agency war” and using “government paraphernalia for the prosecution of political battles.”

The coalition comprises the Osun Masterminds, Transparency and Accountability Group, Centre for Sustainable Dialogue, Centre for Democratic Ethics, Oodua Youth Parliament, Osun Young Professionals, Nigerians for Good Governance, Nigeria Youths Representatives Council and Gender Tonic Initiative. In the petition delivered to the Presidency, the coalition said, “If the Federal Government under the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), fails to caution Mr Rauf Aregbesola and charge him to focus on his official responsibilities instead of going about causing civil unrest, he will end up inflaming the otherwise peaceful Osun State.

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Inwalomhe Donald writes from Osogbo