DICTATORSHIP AND DEMOCRACY: THE TRAVESTY IN APC OSUN

 The practice of democracy in Osun APC is today a mockery to democratic principles. It appears that Governor Oyetola and Gboyega Famodun; the Chairman of the caretaker committee of the party in Osun, want to stop democratic ethos and institutions that promote and defend mass participation and rule of law in Osun APC. These duo and their hangers-on do not want members of Osun APC to freely choose candidates for elective offices within party. All they want is the imposition of themselves and their favorites through dubious consensus, on the Party.

The Osun progressives have rejected this antic. Several undemocratic norms have been deployed to the federal consistituencies in Osun State by Famodun and Governor Oyetola to adopt the two of them as the sole candidates of APC for Chairman and Governor. The planned suspension of party leaders who are opposed to Oyetola and Famodun is raging in  Osun.  Oyetola has become a maximum ruler that can ignore known democratic norms. This was how the fake rumour going round that Ogbeni; the Minister of Interior, has been suspended from his ward in Ilesa emanated.

This plan to scheme out the progressives in Osun  through persecution and harassment  will make Osun not peaceful and unstable in the years to come. A paradigm shift in Osun politics in 2022 means that Oyetola faces the greatest threat to his second term from within his party.

Osun people are no strangers to dictators like Governor Oyetola that have used violence for elections. The last election in 2018 was characterised by an increasing projection of power change which Governor Oyetola won with less than 300 votes.. The 300 votes in 2018 communicated directly and indirectly the threatening message of rural voters and their families. But the intensity of violence being witnessed within the ruling party in Osun in the run up to the 2022 election is unprecedented and worrisome.

Progressives have emphasised on their commitment to non-violence and to democratic means of getting to power while Governor Oyetola has become a dictator that is hiding under the democratic norms. During this period for preparation for Osun State APC primary Governor Oyetola and his group have sought to repress and provoke Arehbesola and his supporters by meting out violence. There is desperate move to fake the suspension of Aregbesola and his supporters from their various wards in Osun State.

Recently, Some political parties, under the aegis of Association of Progressive Political Parties (APPPs) in Osun State has warned Governor Gboyega Oyetola to put on hold, any dream of seeking re-election in 2022. The group said Governor Oyetola should instead ensure he fulfilled all his campaign promises he made to the people of the state in 2018.

They also urged him to enhance socio-economic and infrastructure status of the state for the wellbeing of the people. The association stated this in a statement issued and signed by its chairman, Wole Adedoyin, who is also the state chairman of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP). Oyetola has not fulfilled what he promised the citizens during his electioneering campaign in 2018. We know that some of his current political moves are towards preparing for 2022 reelection bid. Some members of his cabinets are deceiving him; citizens of the state are not smiling mainly because many of them have not gotten dividends of democracy as promised by the governor in the year 2018,” part of the statement read.

There is continued attacks on Osun APC members who are opposed to Oyetola second term bid, they have tried to scare Aregbesola off, and Aregbesola has emphasised his seriousness as a leader. Governor Oyetola is not creating much momentum. Meanwhile, pictures and billboards of Aregbesola are facing destruction and attacks. If many voters and members of APC don’t feel naturally attracted to Aregbesola, the Osun State government’s violent crackdown has earned him sympathy, and only served to fuel anger toward the government. This is the paradox Oyetola is confronted with: by clamping down so hard on Aregbesola, he is co-creating and strengthening his own enemy.

Some of the attacks against Aregbesola’s supporters are:

In January 2021, the Senator representing Osun West Senatorial District, Adelere Oriolowo, was whisked away from the venue of a constituency meeting held in Ikire, Osun State, when some unknown gunmen attacked him. The senator’s Senior Legislative Aide, Adams Adedimeji, who confirmed the development to journalists, said Oriolowo was the main target of the assassins.

Olateju Ishola; a nephew  to the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola,  was attacked by a gang of hoodlums allegedly loyal to Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun state while attending a function in Osogbo. Ishola, in a statement, he alleged that the hoodlums attacked him on Sunday, March 28, 2021, and attempted to kill him at a birthday party organised by a member of the State House of Assembly, Taofeek Badmus. The minister’s nephew  explained that the attack was an attempted assassination on his life and called on security agencies to investigate the incident.

The Caretaker Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the State of Osun, Hon Rasaq Salinsile, has stated that those who destroyed the billboards he sponsored to felicitate with the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on his 64th birthday, are members of the party. In an exclusive interview, Salinsile stated that some members of the party, who suddenly developed hatred for Aregbesola, were behind the vandalisation of the billboard erected at Old Garage area in Osogbo, the state capital.

With this prevailing scenario of dictatorship, it is crystal clear that, there is a trying time ahead of the party in the state of Osun towards the 2022 governorship election.    The outgoing chairman, Gboyega Famodun, whose tenure has expired since 2018, who hails from Igbajo is from the same Osun Central Zone as Governor Oyetola. And the argument of the opposing camp is that, in the spirit of fair play, equity, justice and rotational principle, both the governor and the party chairman should not come from the same senatorial zone.

However, the latest development that looks potent to disrupt the fragile peace again, according to my checks, is the choice of who becomes the next State Chairman of the party since the tenure of the outgoing chairman,  Mr. Adegboyega Famodun has expired. Ahead of the 2022 governorship election in Osun State, the crisis rocking the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state has taken a new turn, with some leaders of the party accusing the caretaker chairman, Gboyega Famodun, of ruining the party.

The stakeholders, who formed The Osun Progressives (TOP), said Famodun has murdered cohesion and unity in the party, noting that he displayed a similar attitude in 2018, which almost caused the party grief during the last governorship election. Famodun and others of his type have made unguarded utterances, which is irresponsibly divisive and unacceptable in the comity of civilised world.”

As I speak today, Famodun is at war with his two predecessors, the current deputy Chairman and Secretary of the Party, the minister and other notables in the party. Famodun cannot differentiate between monarchical inheritance and a democratic organisation, where multiple interests are aggregated to ensure the good of all, which is the essence of a democratic political party.

Inwalomhe Donald writes from Osogbo, Osun State