Citing APC Constitution, Aregbesola’s Faction Says Oyetola Can’t Contest

Nume Ekeghe in Lagos, Kingsley Nwezeh and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The lingering disagreement between the Minister of Interior, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola and Osun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola, has assumed a different twist as the Aregbesola faction of the party, has said Oyetola, being a member of the caretaker committee, was automatically disqualified from contesting the primaries, citing the party’s laws.

Two members of Osun’s faction of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) loyal to Aregbesola, who spoke on ‘the Morning Show’ on Arise News Channel, noted that Oyetola’s candidacy initially caused a rift in the party, which prompted agitation and therefore sued for fairness in the upcoming primaries.

Special Adviser to the Minister of Interior, Bola Ilori, said, “Whoever votes for Oyetola on Saturday would be wasting his vote, because his candidature is against the constitution of APC, because he is a member of the caretaker committee of the party that is organising the primaries.

“How can you be organising primaries, when you are a contestant and the rule is that you must resign 30 days before the primaries. Oyetola cannot stand as candidate for Osun.”
He added that Oyetola being a member of the organsing committee would unbalance the scale and would likely rig the elections in favour of himself as the incumbent governor.

“It is easy for the caretaker committee to say they want to rig the election,” he said.
On his part, Osun State former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy affairs, Kolapo Alimi, said, “Our party in Osun is aggrieved today, because of politics of segregation, politics of alienation embarked upon from day-one by our Governor Oyetola.

“The agitation in the state is that the governorship ticket should be zoned to Osun West, which has only produced a governor for less than two years. But when our leader, Asiwaju Tinubu said this man happens to be my cousin and I want him to succeed as governor, Aregbesola told the party that this is what our leader wants and so there was uproar.”

He added that this had initially seen a number of APC members defect to other parties and urged for a reconciliation between the two factions.

“Some people decamped to other parties and so we went into 2018 elections with a depleted party. Whatever is happening between the two of them, the leadership of our party should intervene to make sure it does not escalate. It could degenerate and spiral out of control,” he warned.