The launch of a new group by the ex-governor Rauf Aregbesola On Tuesday the crisis reopened in the Congress of All Progressives (APC) in the state of Osun.
Aregbesola, who until the end of May was Minister of the Interior, inaugurated the Omoluabi Progressive Caucus in Ilesha a day after his successor as governor, Gboyega Oyetola, was sworn in as Minister of Marine and Blue Economy before President Bola Tinubu.
The two men have been at odds since Oyetola succeeded Aregbesola as governor in 2018.
Aregbesola failed in his efforts to stop the APC from nominating Oyetola for re-election, and the failure of the two politicians to bury the hatchets is believed to have contributed significantly to Oyetola’s defeat in last year’s gubernatorial election.
The APC lost the presidential election and every other election in the state in 2023.
On Tuesday, Aregbesola launched her new group with members hailing from all 332 districts in the state.
He said the group is a union of like-minded APC members and not a faction of the party.
“What we have come here to do today is to renew our commitment to the path of progressive ideology and politics inherited from our great heroes of the past, beginning with Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Abraham Adesanya, the Chief Ball Ige and others. in the pantheon of progressive politics they are too numerous to mention.
“Rising from the ashes of the near annihilation of our party in the 2022 gubernatorial election and general election earlier this year, we must rise up and renew our strength and reclaim our place in the political firmament in Osun.
However, on the same day, at a reception held for him in Osogbo, the party’s new National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru, attacked Mr. Aregbesola and his supporters in the APC, although he refrained from naming them.
Basiru, who became the party’s clerk after losing the senatorial election in the Osun Central District to the APC candidacy, said God’s wrath awaits those who benefited from the party but betrayed it in the general election.
“Those who benefited from the party and still betrayed us, we have turned their matter over to God. If you know you’re tired of the party, go away, but don’t stay and keep working against it. Those who betrayed us are now disappointed,” he stated.
ALSO READ: Aregbesola calls for unity among APC members in Osun
Aregbesola’s supporters immediately condemned his comments.
A member of his Omoluabi group from the state’s Boluwaduro local government area, Abosede Oluwaseun, accused Basiru of speaking with “mischievous purpose, pomposity, bombast and poor mannerism.”
He continued: “To set the record straight, the Omoluabi Progressive is an APC group in Osun State and not a faction. Only Basiru and his traveling companions will give or call a bad name to a dog just to kill it.”
Before becoming governor in 2010, Aregbesola served as a commissioner in Lagos state under the Tinubu Governorate.
He publicly attacked Tinubu during the APC primary last year for allegedly protecting Oyetola.
Aregbesola refrained from campaigning for Tinubu and other APC candidates in the 2023 election and has not been seen at any public event involving the president since the election.
Read More Related News Here
Let hear it in the comment below if you do have an opinion on this; Aregbesola launches a new group one day after Oyetola’s inauguration as minister