Ahead Osun 2022: APC Government Operating Without Check As PDP, Other Opposition Parties Become Redundant

In a democracy, the opposition party's role is to question the government of the day and hold them accountable to the public. This also helps to fix the mistakes of the ruling party. The opposition is equally responsible in upholding the interest of the people of the country. Opposition party have to ensure that the government does not take any steps, which might have negative effects on the people.

In Osun state, it is technically correct to say that there is no opposition party in existence. While the supposedly leading opposition party (PDP) is currently wallowing in an unending internal crisis that started after the 2018 Governorship election which the party lost in a controversial manner, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has gone into oblivion.

SDP, a party that prides itself as the pillar behind Gboyega Oyetola's emergence as Governor (as a result of the coalition formed with the APC during the rerun election) is as good as no longer in existence.

The chairman of the party during the 2018 election, Dr. Bayo Faforiji has returned to the PDP while the party's candidate Senator Iyiola Omisore recently defected to the APC, leaving SDP members and his helpless supporters to their fate while he hustle for crumbs and leftovers on the table of his new bedmates.

Will SDP participate in the 2022 governorship election or have been forbidden by the coalition agreement is a question begging for an answer.

A member of Gov. Oyetola's administration who doesn't want to be mentioned from the SDP in a telephone conversation with VAM News stated that it is wrong to label SDP an opposition party.

According to him; "SDP in osun state is not an opposition party. We are a part and parcel of the current government.

"If you will recall, we formed an alliance with the APC to bring the present government to power, so we are in government and not in opposition".

He further revealed that members of the SDP in the same would register and become official members of the APC

"As you can see, our leader Senator Iyiola Omisore has officially joined the APC, you should expect the rest of us to follow suit and register as members of the progressive party. And this is will happen in a matter of time". He said.

The PDP, due to its internal wranglings has not been living to expectations in holding the current Government accountable and playing the role of opposition as expected.

One would think that the party must have learnt its lesson from the aftermath of the internal crisis that preceded the 2018 election which saw two of the most experienced, popular and influential bigwigs of the party, Sen. Iyiola Omisore and Alhaji Fatai Akinbade left for the SDP and ADC respectively.

Many political watchers are of the strong opinion that the silent war that broke out between the party and the Adeleke political dynasty immediately after the controversial primary election that produced Ademola Adeleke as the Flagbearer in 2018 snowballed into the what has become a protracted crisis that has divided the party into two factions.

Recall that the PDP National Working Committee in a letter dated May 2, 2020 asked Adagunodo to step aside for his deputy so that he could appear before a disciplinary committee of the party over alleged malfeasance and antiparty activities. This (removal) was further ratified in September 2020 by the NWC. Adagunodo's removal was disclosed in a statement released by the Party's National publicity secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan. He said the ratification followed the validation of a vote of no confidence passed on Adagunodo by the state executives.

The statement further directed that Hon. Sunday Bisi to take over as the chairman of the party.

However, events took a new turn in November 2020 when an Osun state high court reinstated Adagunodo as the chairman of the party.

Since then, both Adagunodo and Bisi have been laying claim to the chairmanship seat of the party. Adagunodo's faction is reportedly enjoying the support of Sen. Francis Fadahunsi, Hon. Wole Oke, Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi among others. On the other hand, the NWC backed Bisi-led faction is being bankrolled by the Adeleke political dynasty and their allies.

Meanwhile, VAM News gathered that there is an ongoing plot by some chieftains of the party to influence the National Working Committee of the party to expel Adagunodo and suspend some of his loyalists and core supporters from the party.

The basis of their planned action, VAM News learnt would be hinged on Adagunodo's resort to drag the party to court over the perceived injustice meted on him.

This plot was confirmed by Adagunodo in a resolution of the State Working Committee and State Officers meeting on January 2020

“We have been reliably informed that some groups of people are pursuing the agenda of suspending and expelling some members of the party, especially the State Chairman, Hon. Soji Adagunodo, even when they know what their planning runs contrary to court process, order and even the constitution of the party which doesn’t give them the authority and jurisdiction or power to do such.

“They are warned to desist, because it is obvious that this will further greatly affect, decimate the fortunes of the party in 2022 and polarise the party the more. The National Chairman and NWC members of the party should be wary of these sets of people who are vehement in their clandestine moves and arrangements only to destabilise the party.”

While speaking with VAM News reporter, Osun PDP director of media, Mr. Oladele Bamiji said that the party has not been doing badly in playing its role as an opposition party as most political analysts believe.

In his word; "Osun PDP as stakeholders in the state have been doing our best to tell the APC government of their strange conduct in office. It is on record that we have told them that reducing functions of a state governor for instance, to that of a local government chairman or in some cases, that of a ward councillor is strange to our polity here as a State. We've had government of PDP here before as led by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and we know what the standards are as a state governor.

"Township and other Intra city roads in our various local governments were in the care of local government administration then and we can all attest to the fact that they did well. The local governments' functions today have been eroded and are practically dead just because of fraudulent practices of this APC government.

"It is on record that it was the PDP that exposed wickedness of the governor and his men in hoarding palliative items which they intended using for political purposes instead of immediate distribution to the people of the state to cushion the effects of rampaging coronavirus. It was also the PDP that smoked out the governor to come out of hiding during the EndSars protests to at least talk to the protesters in order to douse the rising tension in the state then.

"We have also severally asked this government what they did with the state borrowed funds as almost all projects the loans were meant to achieve for the good people of the state have been abandoned. Osogbo-Ilaodo road, Gbongan-Akoda Road, Moshood Abiola International Airport, Ido-Osun, Dagbolu Internal Market, Igi-Iye and several other projects like that are all nowhere to be found today and the state is bearing brunt of refunds of these humongous loans obtained to execute the projects. We have also demanded to know why the state pensioners are left to die in droves after serving our state with the best part of their lives, because the APC government won't pay them their entitlements.

"We have asked governor Oyetola and his immediate past boss, Aregbesola, these pertinent questions, but what we got each time they gamer courage to respond, has been blabbing upon blabbing. They won't address any of the issues placed before them which suggests to us they are utterly confused in their mismanagement of the state. They are however aware they cannot escape attendant nemesis of their actions in the state and that's why they have been trying hard to infiltrate the ranks of our party with a view to holding us down, thinking that would afford them some breathing space for their atrocities.

"As stakeholders in the state as I mentioned earlier, our primary concern is the welfare of our people which is the essence of any reasonable government and we will continue to hold the fraudulent government of APC accountable till next year when our people will have another opportunity to vote them out of our state.

When he was asked about the likely implications of the internal crisis the party is currently facing ahead of the 2022 governorship election and the possible exit of some bigwigs as experienced in 2018, Mr Oladele stated that there's no cause for alarm.

"Political party is just a vehicle through which political aspirations are met in this part of the world and as reflected in the pattern and balance of voting in the 2018 governorship election in the State, you would observe that the good people of Osun State are politically matured to look beyond any internal wrangling that is not inevitable most times amongst active players in political party administration.

"That's why despite the fact that those big names you mentioned left the PDP to try their luck on other platforms in 2018, the PDP still won at the first ballot. That Senator Nurudeen Ademola Adeleke won that election was not in doubt but at times, God almighty has His peculiar ways in the affairs of men, the election went the way it went.

"As a matter of fact, it took all evil machinations of APC in the concocted rerun election a week after the first ballot and a controversial judicial adjudication to get the Oyetola govt in place.

"What I'm saying in essence is that our people know better now and I can tell you for free they will vote massively for our great party come next year.

"I also want to assure you that those traces of misunderstanding you see in our party will soon be resolved in the best interest of our dear state and the suffering masses who beckon on us daily to bail the state out of the present ignominious rule of APC".

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