The roll call was as intimidating and as important as its essence namely, to find a lasting peace and promote unity in the troubled party and also to put the South West on a higher pedestal in the scheme of things in the polity (as pointed out by the convened of the meeting). The closed-door meeting, which lasted over four hours from 1pm to some few minutes after 5pm, was the first to be held by the party from the zone since President Muhammadu Buhari constituted his cabinet in November 2015 and it was attended by prominent elected and appointed leaders of the party from the zone.
In attendance were the host governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi; Governor Rauf Aregbesola, Osun; Governor Ibikunle Amosun, Ogun; and the Lagos State governor, Akinwumi Ambode. Former Governors Bola Tinubu, Segun Osoba, Bisi Akande, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Adeniyi Adebayo and Segun Oni of Lagos, Ogun, Osun and Ekiti states, respectively, were also at the meeting.
Also present were Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Kayode Fayemi, his counterparts in the Ministries of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun; Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; Health, Professor Isaac Adewole; Communications, Adebayo Shittu; Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and the Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs, Professor Claudius Daramola.
Also not left out at the meeting were the Senate Chief Whip, Professor Sola Adeyeye; House Leader, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, among others, while the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Honourable Lasun Yusuff, was absent, as he was said to be out of the country.
Though the meeting was held behind closed door and what transpired was not disclosed to news hounds who had gathered at the venue as early 12noon, however, it is not without any doubt that its essence centred around the disturbing disquiet in the party in the aftermath of the 2015 general election and the consequent sharing of appointments and positions at the federal level.
It is indeed indubitable that the ruling political party in the country has been going through a negatively tumultuous moment in its almost four years of existence. The division and schism came to the fore immediately after the inauguration of the President Buhari administration on May 29, 2015 and particularly became more pronounced in the South-West shortly before and subsequently after the president formed his cabinet, after about six months of intensive search for the right candidates to fill the available federal portfolios.
Since then, the deep-seated animosity between and among top players in the South-West chapter of the political party had been glaringly intense. Some of the party’s leaders, including Senator Tinubu who many saw as the APC national leader, were said to have isolated and left stranded in the scheme of things at the national level. The party was further polarised in the zone as some of its leaders, including Fashola, Fayemi and Amosun and, by extension, Shittu and Adeosun, were reported to have dumped the Tinubu faction to allegedly form an alliance with the faction loyal to the president.
To every discerning mind, there had been noticeable cracks in the party in the South West since 2015. However, the sharp division, which bothered over the quest for the control of the soul of the party, gained prominence in the build up to and the aftermath of the two governorship elections held in Edo and Ondo states, both in 2016.
Briefing newsmen shortly after the meeting, the spokesperson of the APC leaders, Osoba, said the meeting of the party’s leaders and stakeholders from the region was with a view to review the position and place of the South-West in national politics. He further revealed that the South-West, as the leader of progressive politics in the country, had resolved to reassert itself in national governance, particularly in the Buhari-led administration which he said was made possible by political leaders from the zone.
“We met principally to discuss the issues of all agitations affecting the South-West and we have come out with a resolution to show that in the Outhouse-West of APC, there is unity of purpose, the leadership is one and we are all together on all issues.
“We have resolved on all issues concerning the governance of this country and what should be the role and influence that we should exercise as a group for the interest and progress of the country.
While Osoba was tactically silent on the burning issue of division between Tinubu and some of his erstwhile allies, the convener of the meeting, Akande, also dismissed such an insinuation as he said the elders of the party were not aware of any rift among the stakeholders. He maintained that what was paramount was the unity of the progressive leaders on the APC platform in the zone and how the functionaries could attract the benefits to Yorubaland.
However, beyond what Osoba and Akande would want to make the world to believe, the meeting indeed acknowledged the existence of a deep-seated rift among some of the party leaders in the South-West. As gathered by Feature Tribune, the host governor, Ajimobi, in his usual blunt self, told the APC leaders the futility of such a gathering if the existing animosity among the party leaders cannot not be ironed out and resolved at the meeting.
An inside source revealed that two eminent professors, including Ropo Sekoni, a renowned economist, were invited to give lectures on peace and unity in Yorubaland after which the governor delivered his written welcome address in English Language “for the benefit of the people from Lagos State who believe that we cannot speak good English in Ibadan”.
Delivering the bombshell, Ajimobi was further quoted to have said, “We are seated here talking about peace and unity but we are deceiving ourselves over peace and unity when some of the leaders present at the meeting here today are not united and did not even greet themselves when they came in.”
It was gathered that majority of those present at the meeting acknowledged the truth in what Ajimobi said but they said the meeting was not the right forum to discuss the issue of animosity among the contending leaders. The host governor was however said to have insisted that the atmosphere and the meeting was the most appropriate place to discuss and resolve the issues.
Governor Aregbesola was then said to have taken to the floor where he, in a veiled reference to the influence of the likes of Fashola, Fayemi and Amosun, said “those who thought they are very influential and using the influence to the detriment of our leaders should continue in their acts”. The outburst of the Osun State governor was said to have almost degenerated into a scuffle between him and his Ogun State counterpart, but for the timely intervention of Oyinlola.
In the same vein, Fayemi also took the floor and was said to have accused Aregbesola of being the main cause of the problem bedeviling the APC leadership in the South West. The heated argument generated by Fayemi’s submission led to a point where the microphones were switched off.
Chief Bisi Akande was said to have subsequently intervened in the midst of the argument, even as he pointed out that all the principal actors at the centre of the crisis threatening to tear the party apart in the zone are all Tinubu’s boys. He did not leave out the former Lagos State helmsman out of the crisis as expressed regrets that Tinubu woefully failed to manage his ‘boys’ and the ensuing crisis.
As a way out, the meeting however set up a four-man peace committee to look into all forms of leadership crisis bedeviling the party in the South West. The four-man peace committee, Feature Tribune gathered, included Chief Segun Osoba, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Chief Adeniyi Adebayo and Senator Bola Tinubu himself, while Chief Segun Oni, who was initially nominated to be a member of the committee, was eventually dropped as he is a member of the APC National Executive Committee (NEC).
No comments:
Post a Comment