Head, News Desk, VICTOR EBIMOMI, looks at the new twist in the feud between Governor Ibikunle Amosun and his predecessor, Olusegun Osoba, over control of Ogun APC
The battle line is drawn in the raging feud between Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State and his predecessor, Olusegun Osoba, over who controls the party machinery in the state. The face-off led to inauguration of parallel executives by their loyalists during the last state congresses of the party. Indications that the lingering crisis may have reached a breaking point emerged last week when Osoba reportedly declared before his supporters that he would never work with Amosun again.
“I give you my words. I pledge in the name of God and Jesus Christ who I worship that we have gone beyond anybody begging us. If thousands come prostrating before me, what you members have decided is what I will adhere to,” Osoba reportedly said while addressing his supporters at a stakeholders’ meeting in his Ibara GRA home in Abeokuta, the state capital.
Since the lingering crisis began, Amosun has not been known to make open response; but his body language betrays that of one not so much troubled by the development. This much was displayed during his Democracy Day speech where he indirectly thumped his chest that all was well with his government.
“Undoubtedly, our administration has consistently kept faith with the Five Cardinal Programme of the Mission to Rebuild our dear state,” the governor said.
Analysts, however, note that the two gladiators are indeed heading somewhere unknown to many.
But the question remains: With the level and the dimension the crisis has taken so far, will Osoba, a national party leader and founding member of the legacy party that fused into APC, abandon ship and seek his political fortune somewhere else or will Amosun discard the platform upon which he came to power, for another?
Some political watchers have argued that anything is possible in this scenario. But a party bigwig in the state confided in TheNiche that Amosun will never venture out of the party, hinging his conviction on the fact that, apart from being the incumbent, he has the control of the grassroots.
“Amosun can’t leave the party because he controls the local governments and that is where the power is. Whatever happens, it is the man who controls the grassroots that will have the upper hand at the end of the day,” he said.
The source also maintained that the political crisis will soon fizzle out the way it propped up, just as he asserted that Osoba himself would never leave the party despite his reported threats of not having anything to do with the governor again.
Osoba’s strongest base, it was learnt, lies in the members of the National Assembly, that include Senators Gbenga Kaka (Ogun East), Akin Odunsi (Ogun West) and Gbenga Obadara (Ogun Central) as well as six members of the House of Representatives and a pocket of few die-hards at the state level, including the deputy governor. Some of these, it is argued, may easily switch camp if that would guarantee their interest in 2015.
Some analysts also share the same view about Osoba not leaving the party as a founder, adding that such might invariably work against Amosun’s 2015 ambition. This is especially as it is assumed in some quarters that Osoba has the ear of the party’s national leadership, particularly former Lagos State governor, Ahmed Bola Tinubu. Though, Tinubu is not known to have joined in the fray, he remains a powerful powerbroker in the APC at the South West zone and the national level.
Other political watchers still believe that if the worst comes the way of Amosun, apart from putting his incumbency factor to good use, he can shift base from APC and still remain relevant. The governor was originally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Similarly, a source privy to Ogun politics stated that Osoba’s people already have a Plan B which may be to float a new party adopting Action Group (AG), a political platform that the late Yoruba leader, Obafemi Awolowo, and some of his compatriots rode on during the fight for the country’s Independence.
Some political analysts have also concurred that something like that might be in the offing, given some of the statements credited to Osoba.
He was said to have already instructed his supporters to proceed with the compilation of a new members’ register in the 236 wards in the 20 local governments.
His words: “You know we have been together since 1988. Soon, everything will be settled. Henceforth, at every ward meeting, please be keeping register, because the one they presented are fake ones.
“Go and open register at every ward. So, at the next meeting, I expect all the 236 wards to have gotten their registers and sent them to their various local governments. Don’t listen to any hearsay. If you have anything that is not clear to you, ask your executive members.”
Watchers of the uncertain developments allege that it could be in the spirit of the Plan B agenda that Osoba spurned the elders’ committee set up to mediate in the matter, by stressing that the matter had gone beyond the capacity of the members to tackle.
“They are only looking for sentiments; they are looking for ways to eat you up. Let them go their way. They said they have set up elders’ committee; don’t mind them; I don’t know who is older than me politically among them.
“None of them is closer to Awolowo than I was. I wined and dined with him. I do not have confidence in those people up there again. They are interested in eating you up. Don’t allow them to deceive you again. When they come, they will not meet me,” he was quoted to have said.
