News Update
THE All Progressives Congress, (APC) in Osun State has cautioned the camps of the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, and the National Secretary of the party, Senator Ajibola Bashiru, to exercise restraint and not tear the party apart with scheming for their favourite governorship aspirant.
Reports indicate that the two camps have been at loggerheads over who will be the candidate of the party in the 2026 gubernatorial election.
Even though none of the camps have come out publicly to declare a candidate, Osun Defender reliably gathered that while the Oyetola camp is rooting for the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Bola Oyebamiji, the National Secretary’s camp is rooting for their boss, Senator Basiru.
The situation, Osun Defender gathered has caused a sharp division within the party in the state.
The party, in a statement signed by its Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, and issued by Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi, alluded that the matter was capable of bringing into disrepute the name of the party due to individuals’ interest.
Lawal said it was strange and worrisome how some members of the party had been going about their individual interests to promote avoidable division.
He reminded those behind the promotion of division in the party over the choice of the party’s governorship candidate for the forthcoming governorship election in the state to sheathe their swords and patiently await the directive of the party.
Lawal, in the statement,, said, “I am worried and surprised at the way some members and leaders of our party have been going about campaigning openly for their choice of governorship aspirants when the ban hasn’t been lifted on the same, which is to the detriment of the party.
“I am not unaware of the fact that our party is a potent one which is the reason there has been visible scrambling for the affected members of our party to be routing for their favourites.
“It is, however, expedient to sound a note of warning to the hearing of all and sundry, especially the esteemed members of our party, that it is callous, selfish, and wicked to allow anybody’s ambition to tear our party apart.
“Our party is the one that is founded on the pedestal of rule of law, justice, and fairness which is the reason I am assuring all its stakeholders that the formal addressing of the issue at stake in this press statement will not in any way be treated under the table when time is ripe for it in the overall interest of all the members of the party and its corporate image.
“For the umpteenth time, I want to reiterate through this medium again that the leadership of our party in the state has not adopted any one as a favourite candidate of the party as I speak.
“When it is time for us to have an acceptable governorship candidate, divine intervention and the party’s constitution shall be at hand to be a guide.
“The collective task that should be the priority of all the members of our party in the state by now is to further intensify our spirit of cooperation in order to realize our collective aspiration in the forthcoming elections in the state.
“The oppressed and visibly deprived people of Osun State are impatiently awaiting the renewal of our tenancy at the seat of power in Bola Ige House, Abere, by the way of the next year’s elections.
“It is our policy that any action or inaction of any identified obstinate and recalcitrant member of our party who has prioritized the deliberate causing or promoting disharmony in our party shall be viewed with all the seriousness it deserves through the invocation of the instrumentality of the Constitution of the party”, the Osun State APC chairman cautioned.