All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain Aremo Olusegun Osoba has highlighted the challenges the ruling party should overcome to make it live up to expectation.
He said the party must implement ‘checks and balances’ built into its constitution, set up its Board of Trustees (BoT) as a mechanism for conflict resolution and give operative content to restructuring as enshrined in its constitution.
Osoba reflected on the three cardinal imperatives in his memoir, ‘Battlelines: Adventures in Journalism and Politics,’ which will be presented to the public today at the Eko Hotels, Victoria Island, Lagos.
In the book, he stated that the Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, urged him to collaborate with former Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel to unseat former Governor Ibikunle Amosun in 2015.
The former Ogun State governor, who traced the history of the APC to efforts to formed alliance in post-2003 period, said the non-implementation of certain provisions of the party have created obstacles.
Osoba said the final alliance among the progressive forces and a section of the conservative bloc, despite their failed attempts in 2003, 2007 and 2011, fulfilled the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s prediction about “explosion” in which the forces of “the thesis and the antithesis” will disappear to pave the way for “the synthesis.”
But, he maintained that “the non-implementation of some of the provisions of the interim constitution of the APC was another issue.”
Osoba noted that the APC Constitution Drafting Committee of the Merger Group was made up of dedicated and experienced political veterans, including Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Alhaji Abubakar Malami (SAN), Dr. Chris Ngige, Adebayo Shittu and Prof. Osagie Ehiniare.
He recalled that the committee, which met for two months at the residence of former Sokoto State Governor Attahiru Bafarawa, examined the constitutions of major political parties, particularly their strengths and weaknesses.
Osoba lamented that some aspects of the draft constitution were not implemented, stressing that the negligence had created “loads of obstacles.”
He stressed: “Unfortunately, non-implementation of checks and balances that we built into our draft is haunting us to date. We knew that there would be loads of obstacles for a new party like APC. For this reason, we provided for the Board of Trustees to, among other functions, act as the wise body to handle conflict resolution. We replicated this body with state caucuses at the state level. The party is yet to inaugurate this crucial and important apex body.”
The APC stalwart also pointed out that “at state branches, the Harmonisation Committee that was to handle the affairs of the body and organise congresses was not set up in many states.
Osoba said a major error was the handing over of party affairs to sitting governors in some states, adding that the unconstitutional action became a big source of collision among leaders in states where there were no elected governors.
Citing Ogun State chapter as a theatre of conflict, he recalled: “The then Southwest chairman of the party, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, made elaborate arrangements to conduct elections of members of the Harmonisation Committee on January 10, 2014. He was already on his way to Abeokuta when he was told the exercise had been cancelled. Delegates and party members who were waiting for Otunba Adebayo were attacked and wounded by organised hoodlums at the party secretariat. This was the beginning of a political explosion that led to the creation of factions in Ogun State.”
Osoba reflected on the ‘restructuring’ controversy, emphasising that it was a cardinal provision of the APC constitution. The elder statesman acknowledged that the Southwest APC chieftains have continued to bear the blame for its non-implementation by their kith and kin.
He said: “As the party grapples with challenges of governance, one area that requires honest attention is the issue of restructuring. The raging debate about restructuring was actually examined by the APC merger committee in details. It was unanimously agreed that we should include the issue in our manifesto, which states that ‘the APC will initiate an action to mend the Nigerian Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties and responsibilities to states in order to entrench true federalism and federal spirit.
“It has been a serious source of irritation to me when those of us from the Southwest are turned into punching bags by fellow Awoists who continuously lambast us as abandoning Awo’s philosophy of true federalism. Restructuring, in line with the vision espoused in our manifesto, is an idea whose time has come.”
Osoba accused Adebanjo of blatant distortions in his autobiography, ‘Telling It as It Is,” saying that made allegations against him about fraternity with former President Olusegun Obasanjo were destructive.
He complained that “Chief Adebanjo seemed desperate to hang a noose of Obasanjo collaborator on his neck.”
Osoba said despite the fact that he was not present at the drafting of the agenda of the meeting with Obasanjo by Afenifere chieftains, led by the late Senator Abraham Adesanya, who later called him to join the parley with the former president on his second term at his Ota farm, Adebanjo deliberately peddled falsehood to malign him.
The former governor said the meeting point between him and Adebanjo was Chief Awolowo, who never discriminated against him.
Osoba said his problem with Adebanjo stemmed from his unwillingness to see things from other people’s perspectives, adding that he lacked that essential quality which marked Awolowo out.
He recalled that in 2015, he refused entreaties from Adebanjo to join forces with Daniel to unseat Amosun, adding that it was evident that they were working for former President Goodluck Jonathan in Ogun State.
Osoba said: “It is true Chief Adebanjo appealed relentlessly that I should collaborate with them in SDP to join Daniel who was then Labour to unseat Amosun. I refused these entreaties. I recall he invited me and my wife to his house on July 29, 2014. Chief Adebanjo stated that he wanted my supporters to collaborate with Daniel on the 2015 election.
“It was my wife who gave the response. She said: “Today, July 29, is my brother’s 60th birthday and ordinarily, I would be with him to celebrate, but his support for Daniel in 2003 has strained our relationship.” It was clear that her reply conveyed the level of our opposition to what Daniel represents, but in spite of my wife’s explanation, Chief Adebanjo still insisted I should work with Daniel.”
Osoba said his ready of Ogun politics did not convince him to pursue the path recommended by Adebanjo, adding that “subsequent events showed that the grand design was to put in place a machinery to endorse and work for President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election.”
He stressed: “Daniel’s latter-day emergence as coordinator of Jonathan’s campaign in the Southwest and the putrid smell of financial deals attributed to the arms scandals in the twilight days of the Jonathan presidency vindicate my reading of the time.
“My main problem with with Chief Adebanjo is his unwillingness to see things from another people’s perspectives. In this regard, he lacks a basic ingredients in Chief Awolowo’s make up, which is the ability to see the other point of view and allow for disputations until the best ideas emerged. Where you disagree with Adebanjo, he goes all out to demonise, masquerading it as principled disagreement.
“I have always accorded him the respect befitting his age and antecedents, but he epitomizes the tendency to always dictate, never granting the other party a modicum of intelligence, if thing are not seen from his perspective. It is an unproductive trait that limits the frontiers of cooperation and extension of influence.”