Ogun state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) may be on the way to either hit the rock again or be strengthened as break-away Allied People’s Movement (APM) has collapsed its political structure back to the political party it ditched in the build-up to 2019 General Elections.
APM and its governorship candidate in the state, Adekunle Akinlade as well as all the then APC faithful loyal to former Governor Ibikunle Amosun left APC in the build-up to 2019 General Elections, having lost APC governorship ticket to incumbent Governor Dapo Abiodun.
The last straw that broke camel’s back was the suspension of State APC Executives being led by Derin Adebiyi, former Governor Amosun’s loyal party man and replaced with the three-man Caretaker Committee being chaired by Yemi Sanusi; Ayo Olubori as Secretary and Tunde Oladunjoye as Publicity Secretary.
This eventually dashed the last hope of Amosun’s caucus in APC and Akinlade, then governorship aspirant of APC in the state; they ruled themselves out by ruling out possible winning of the governorship primaries even if it were to be conducted one million times.
This political scenario prompted, Adekunle Akinlade, who was then Amosun’s anointed governorship candidate and his followers to dump APC and formed Allied People’s Movement (APM) to slug it out with APC in the governorship election but lost at the end to Governor Dapo Abiodun as the battle was shifted to Courts – Election Petitions Tribunal, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court which finally squashed the suit and cleared Governor Abiodun as the winner of the governorship election.
But, barely one week to the judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria which confirmed Governor Dapo Abiodun as the rightful occupier of Ogun State Governor’s Office, Adekunle Akinlade howver led thousands of his followers back to the State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC), saying they had come back to fight the injustice that pushed them out the party in the first instance.
The move to rejoin APC after 15 months of break-away which occurred on Monday also came barely one week to the lifting of party’s suspension on five party chieftains, including former Governor Amosun who is a serving Senator on the platform of APC.
Former Governor Amosun was suspended for anti-party activities by Adam’s Oshiomole-led APC National Executives, having been elected as Senator on APC platform, representing Ogun Central Senatorial District in the 2019 National Assembly Elections.
BusinessDay gathered from a source close to the Presidency that the rejoining of APC by Akinlade and his followers came on the backdrop of the promise by the Presidency when Senator Amosun took Akinlade to President Muhammadu Buhari last week, of offering Akinlade juicy appointment if he could go back to strengthen the party ahead of 2023 general elections.
“You should know that nothing comes for nothing in politics. For APC to have pardoned Amosun, something concrete must have taken place and for Akinlade to have come back to the party where he was disgraced out, then something must have happened up.
“You, the men of the media, should be well aware of Amosun taking Akinkade to the Aso Rock Villa to see President Buhari, that was where what you saw today (Monday) started and I can bet it with you that they have come back in full force to APC.
“You can see that Amosun is seriously attached to his people in Ogun Central and Ogun Central Senatorial District has largest voting population. Amosun has just come back home last weekend to distribute and install electricity transformers and other things for his people.
“He (Amosun) is also moving round the town to ‘supervise’ all the projects that he initiated in Abeokuta, the State Capital when he was a governor. This should say a lot about his influence even outside the Governor’s Office and go-slow governor tag placed on incumbent Governor Abiodun.
“People, especially politicians still have interest in Amosun because of his influence at the Aso Rock, he has been getting appointments for politicians that are loyal to him and blocked off Governor Abiodun and Ogun APC from getting any appointment there, in no time, those that Governor Abiodun did not give political appointments in State APC will still run to him”, the source said.
But, in a swift response to the happenings in the State APC, the party at the State level declared that the State chapter of APC had not been informed about pardon granted to Senator Amosun on anti-party activities he was alleged to have committed in the build-up to 2019 General Elections and as such he might not be accorded with due recognition that politicians of his calibre get.
Tunde Oladunjoye, Caretaker Publicity Secretary was quoted on a popular social media platform in the state – Rockcity Parliament to have said, “No one is opposed to his (Amosun) being forgiven, anyway. To the best of my knowledge, Ogun APC is not officially aware of his pardon as such has not been communicated to us. We only read it in the news. Neither has he formally returned to the party.
Oladunjoye also raised alarm on Monday on behalf of the party on the possible hijack of the party Secretariat by some politicians loyal to Senator Amosun, saying that the party would not tolerate that.
He said, “Intelligence at our disposal reveals that a known politician has made arrangements for thugs and miscreants to attack the Stats Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Abeokuta this morning and to further attack and wreck violence across the wards in Ogun State.
“It is important to recall that since the inauguration of the APC Caretaker Committees at the state, local government and ward levels by the National Working Committee of the Party on December 18, 2018, the former executive members had embarked on multiple litigations. The numerous suits are still pending in various courts. Why these people want to now take the laws into their hands and resort to self-help by their plan to unleash terror in different parts of the state is what we do not comprehend.
“We call on law enforcement agents to be at alert to their duties and prevent breakdown of law and order in any part of our dear state. Peace has returned to Ogun State since the emergence of the new Administration, and it is the resolve of well meaning indigenes and residents of the state that Ogun State will not go back to Egypt.”
RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta
