The return of former Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba to the All Progressives Congress (APC) has thrown up the challenge of harmonisation in the chapter. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU examines the implications of the retracing of steps for the divided political family.
Aremo Olusegun Osoba, veteran journalist and two-time governor of Ogun State, was bitter. At the meeting of his supporters held at his Abeokuta, Ogun State home, he was fuming. Many of his supporters, who formed the Matagbamole Group, including Senators Olugbenga Kaka, Akin Odunsi and Gbenga Obadara; former Deputy Governor Segun Adesegun and Muyiwa, son of the leader and former member of the House of Representatives, were up in arms against Governor Ibikunle Amosun.
That was shortly before last year’s general elections. The Ogun State All Progressives Congress (APC) had been polarised by the rift between the former governor and Amosun. The bone of contention was the distribution of elective offices among the blocs in the chapter. The Osoba camp alleged that Amosun was waxing stronger because the national leadership of the party sided with the governor, who it accused of politics of marginalisation and seclusion. Amosun’s men were combative. They fired back, saying that the old politician was troubling the governor without justification.
When reconciliation failed, the two camps went their separate ways. Osoba and his supporters defected from the APC and sojourned in the less popular Social Democratic Party (SDP), led by former Secretary to Federal Military Government Chief Olu Falae. Following their exit, an embattled Amosun consolidated his hold on the chapter, campaigned vigorously during the polls and won. Osoba’s men, who contested for various offices against APC candidates lost at the election.
Earlier, Third Republic Deputy Governor Rafiu Ogunleye had called it quits with the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), led by the governor. He alleged that his group, Imole, was marginalised in the distribution of appointments. Ogunleye is the former Chairman of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). He was said to have left for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) out of frustration.
Osoba’s defection was not an isolated case. During the merger talks, former Sokoto State Governor Attahiru Bafarawa called it quits, saying that he could not accept the leadership of former Governor Aliyu Wamakko. In Borno State, the war of attrition between former Governor Modu Sheriff, who lost out in the national chairmanship race, and Governor Kashim Shetima reached a climax. Sheriff defected to the PDP.
However, keen watchers of the Ogun drama had predicted that Osoba will return to the fold after the poll. When the APC presidential campaign train rolled into Abeokuta, the state capital, chieftains fired salvos at the defectors. Supporters of the governor were full of bravado. But, top party leaders were in sober reflection. They acknowledged Osoba as a man of high political stature, whose political career spanned through the media when he was among the “three musketeers”, the Constituent Assembly and the State House, to which he was elected twice, and the formative stage of the APC when he served as a member of the party’s Constitution Committee. Besides, two foremost monarchsin Ogun State; one from Egba and another from Ijebu; have been on Osoba’s neck to return to his political family.
When Aremo Osoba attended the 64th birthday of the National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the hope of an end to the crisis in the Ogun chapter brightened. A source said some national leaders and Southwest chieftains held a brief meeting with Osoba to formalise his return to the fold. Last Sunday’s meeting at the Ikoyi, Lagos home of the former governor, according to sources, was the second leg of the unity meeting.
Between the last elections and the unity meeting, a lot of water has passed under the bridge in the Southwest. “Certain circumstances have created friction, making re-strategising very compelling in the Southwest,” said a source. Indeed, there have been a slight shift in allegiance, and Southwest APC has had to contend with rebellion, mistrust and distrust. For example, during the Southwest leaders meeting with Osoba, Amosun was absent. Neither did he send any representative. “It is possible that the governor was not aware of the meeting or there was no basis to invite him, at least for now,” said a source close to the meeting.
At the meeting were Asiwaju Tinubu, Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, his Oyo State counterpart, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, Southwest APC leader Chief Pius Akinyelure, Chief Bisi Akande, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, Adesegun, Obadara, and Alhaji Bimbo Awofeso. After the meeting, Osoba declared: “There is no more quarrel, ther is no more war.”
To analysts, the Lagos meeting notwithstanding, the Ogun APC crisis is not over. As a source put it, “it was evident that the gap between Osoba and Southwest progressive bloc has been bridged, but there are more hurdles to cross in the Ogun chapter.
There has been no love lost between Osoba and Amosun, who defected from the PDP to the ACN, ahead of the 2011 elections. According to party insiders, it has been difficult for Osoba to overlook the role played by Amosun when his second term bid was truncated in 2003. Amosun teamed up with Otunba Gbenga Daniel to pull off the rug off Osoba’s feet. Amosun defected to the ACN under that prevailing atmosphere of suspicion. When senator was ticked for the governorship ticket, the move was naturally opposed by Osoba. To pacify the former governor, he was allowed to nominate Amosun’s running mate, Adesegun, despite the resistance of the governorship candidate. His supporters also emerged as senatorial, House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates. There was relative harmony and the party sacked the PDP from power in the Gateway State. During the electioneering, Amosun managed to ride through the turbulence.
However, a crisis broke out over appointments. It was evident that the former governor and Amosun were locked in a supremacy battle. Amosun alleged that Osoba attempted to impose a list of commissioners and special advisers on him, unmindful of the fact that he, as the chief executive, is strengthened by the constitution to form his executive council. He alleged that he did it without consultation with him. When some of those on Osoba’s list got wind of it, they kicked as the governor drafted a new list which excluded them. Not all the people nominated by Osoba made the final list. Amosun was infuriated by what he described as a deliberate attempt by Osoba to run the government for him, stressing that the former governor would not have tolerated that when he was in the saddle.
Both camps began to work at cross purpose. The crisis engulfed the House of Assembly, following the split loyalty. Ahead of last year’s election, it was evident that the APC would go into the poll as a divided house. Complaints about marginalisation of Osoba’s supporters in government filled the air. Adesegun cried that his boss had sidelined him in the running of the state. Adesegun alleged that his allowances were withheld by the governor. He said in spite of the efforts by the governor to reduce him to a spare tyre, he would not abandon his leader, Osoba. Up to the time the deputy governor defected to the SDP, he did not resign. When Adesegun left, Amosun picked another running mate from Ijebu, Mrs. Yetunde Onanuga, who is now deputy governor.
The SDP picked Odunsi as its flag bearer. But, he kissed the dust before the more formidable APC arsenal. SDP candidates also lost in other elections. The party lacked strong structures across the wards, local governments, constituencies and districts. It also lacked funds to prosecute the electoral project.
The campaigns, nevertheless, were hot. Osoba justified his departure, saying he had not crossed the bridge from the progressive bloc to the conservative wing. Before he defected, he said: “I will remain a progressive. All the training that Papa Awolowo gave to me directly, his philosophy, his political beliefs that I believe in, I will continue to remain in that line. I will never go to the right wing, conservative wing of politics. I will never go the oligarchy way.”
Amosun was widely acknowledged as a performing governor, owing to his laudable projects. But, Osoba described him as a sectional governor, pointing out that he concentrated the projects in Abeokuta and its environs to the disadvantage of other parts of the state. He chided Amosun for abandoning the Ago-Owoye bridge project, which his administration initiated, while the governor was building bridges in Sapon, Itoku and Iyana Mortuary, Abeokuta.
Apparently, Osoba was also not comfortable with the romance between the governor and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who plotted his electoral defeat in 2003.
The former governor decried what he called the maltreatment of Adesegun by Amosun. He said: “We gave Adesegun as Amosun’s deputy because of his experience as Commissioner for Works. We had expected that the governor would tap from Adesegun’s wealth of experience in governance, but the governor chose otherwise and started constructing bridges where there is no water.
“Amosun really dealt with Adesegun; he maltreated him. Ijebu people should not see the insult meted out to Adesegun as that of Adesegun alone. They should see it as a collective insult. Therefore, it is time for Ijebu to fight back with their votes. I am begging you to stop the maltreatment of the Ijebus with your votes.”
Amosun returned the missiles. Describing Osoba’s allegations as baseless, he said he has refused to play a politics of facts.
He said: “I will urge our leader, Chief Osoba, to let us play politics of facts. I have vowed not to engage in politics of sentiments and frivolities, but that of facts. But, because that allegation has been made, it is important to clear the air to our people. We should not be playing such politics. To gain what? We have bridges in Abeokuta, Ijebu, Sagamu, Ota. Others are also coming up at Ijebu-Igbo and Ilaro. We have our model schools in all the sections. In fact, that of Ogun East is more than other sections.”
With Osoba’s return, Ogun APC will brace up for the challenges of reconciliation and harmonisation. Unless the national leadership comes to its aid, the Osoba camp’s integration may be hampered by its apparent weak bargaining power. It may continue to be the minority in the chapter. Today, no member of the camp is a commissioner, special adviser, minister and member of board and parastatal. A party official, who spoke on a condition of anonymity said while reconciliation is relatively easier, harmonisation may not be an easy task. He said Amosun and the party leadership have noted Osoba’s return. But, he added that Osoba and his supporters should come to Abeokuta for a formal defection.
The official added: “There are challenges. The mood of the party welcomes Chief Osoba. But, we note that, during the last election, he and his supporters worked against the APC. That is bygone now. But, some people will still believe that he is returning to reap where he did not sow. The election is over. It has been fought and won. Chief Osoba did not return to the party in Ogun. He returned to the party in Lagos. When he defected, he defected in Ogun. As he returns, he should return in Ogun.”
