Political Scavengers Directing APC Affairs In Osun, Adewale, Ex-LG Chairman

Yusuf Oketola

HOW long have you been with the progressive party?

I joined ac ve poli cs in 1999 when Chief Bisi Akande was elected as the Governor of the State of Osun under the Alliance for Democracy. I was the Secretary of the AD at my ward, Lagere Amola Ward 6, Ode-Omu. A er we lost the 2003 governorship elec on, the progressive party went into ex nc on in the state. In 2005, the resuscita on of the party began through Oranmiyan movement led by Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. Things began to take shape in the party. I was s ll holding the secretary posion at my ward at that me. Members of the Ac on Alliance were very ac ve; we were inspired by Aregbesola. The 2007 elec on came, we won but our mandate was stolen. That dampened the moral of majority members of the progressive party. However, when Aregbesola reclaimed his mandate in 2010, things started falling into place. I was the Youth Captain of Oranmiyan at Ayedaade LG and s ll the Secretary of the party at my ward.

Towards the 2014 elec on, I became the Coordinator of Osun Progressive Force (OPF) in Ayedaade local government, while I was s ll the Youth Captain of Oranmiyan. I was recommended for the two posi ons by my poli cal leaders.

I am a local poli cian; I do my poli cs at home and I am loyal to the party and my leaders.

You were denied the caretaker chairmanship posi on in 2017, what was responsible for that?

What I know is that my name was penned down for the Caretaker Chairmanship posi on for Ayedaade local government in 2017 by my leaders, but it didn’t fly at the state level because of ‘state poli cs’. I don’t play my poli cs at the state level. That is what I can say.

However, I par cipated in the local government parliamentary elec on in 2018. I contested against the incumbent caretaker chairman of the local government then, Alhaji Oduwole Bashir, we are in the same ward. I defeated him at the elec on and I was elected as counselor for my ward, and eventually, luck ran on me and I became the local government chairman through the parliamentary system.

As a stakeholder of the APC in Osun West Senatorial District, were you part of the ‘West L’okan’ agitators in 2018?

I did not go with ‘West L’okan agitators’ because Aregbesola, who was the governor then directed all the local government chairmen to work for Oyetola. Our leaders in Osun West were calling us bastard for not suppor ng the agenda. We were even cursed at a senatorial mee ng in Iwo. On the day of the primary elec on, I called police to arrest my leader and ward chairman just because I wanted a field day to work for Oyetola’s emergence as the candidate of the party. My chairman mocked me when he heard about all what Oyetola did to us in office.

What do you think was responsible for the near-defeat of APC in the 2018 governorship elec on?

APC had a be er chance to win the 2018 elec on with wide margin but the choice of our candidate was the grievous mistake. The progressive party was s ll popular ll 2018. In 2017, there was a survey sponsored by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on Osun APC. The survey revealed that Aregbesola was more popular than the party itself. Tinubu then directed that we start organising mee ng across the nine federal cons tuencies in the state. We erected billboard for the party across the state. I remembered that there was crisis at the Ifelodun/ Boripe/Odo-o n federal cons tuency mee ng then. As the programme was going on at Ikirun, most members of the APC from Osun East, West and Central said the governorship cket of the party should be zone to Osun West. Aregbesola was not even allowed to make a speech on that day. The APC members later changed their agita on from ‘West L’okan to Adeo l’okan. The outcome of our primary elec on was responsible for the near-defeat of the APC in 2018. APC was popular, but the choice of candidate haunted the party.

The crisis of the party began when the West felt cheated. If not for Aregbesola’s strategy and the love of the people for him, APC would have lost the 2018 elec on. Few months to the elec on, Aregbesola directed all local government chairmen to go back to their locali es to mobilise electorate and votes for the party and funded the project. It was during that elec on that I realised that elec on is mathema cs. If Ogbeni had not handle the elec on that way, we wouldn’t even have the chance to go for a rerun.

In spite of what you said, how did APC end up being a polarised party a er the 2018 elec on?

We campaigned with con nuity of the progressives government and noble programmes of Aregbesola’s administraon. We thought it would be a con nuity we campaigned with. But reverse was the case. What I observed was that immediately the baton of government changed, everything both in governance and poli cs changed with it.

The first Joint Account Alloca on Commi ee, JAAC mee ng we held under Oyetola was a tug of war. It was total departure from what we used to have under Aregbesola. A career officer, the Coordina ng Director of Ministry of Local Government then, Mr. Akinpelu told me openly that ‘support this Governor, Oyetola, he will not be chea ng you like Aregbesola, and he will be releasing your money every month.’ I was shocked to hear that from a career office, Oyetola was even close to us when he was saying it. But I didn’t take him serious because most of career officers are sycophan c; they befriend any government in power.

A er that was a sponsored division in ALGON. Some of us did not know that some ALGON members had ulterior mo ve. Those set of people who claimed to be loyal to the new governor, Oyetola as then was, accused the ALGON execu ves of misappropria on. We tried to let peace reign but the people who called themselves Tobalase were persistent. We did not know that their accusa on against the ALGON execu ve was because they wanted to change leadership that will play the sycophan c poli cs. Their belief then was that the ALGON execu ves would con nue to be loyal to Aregbesola.

Immediately we changed the ALGON execu ves, these people started what I will call needless poli cs of bi erness and division, all because they wanted to show Oyetola that they were loyal to him. I was their first vic m. My local government, Ayedaade, was receiving nega ve alloca on which was not the case under Aregbesola’s administra on. I observed the trend nega ve alloca on for over three months before I complained. I informed the ALGON Chairman then and he asked if I was suspicious. I told him I didn’t know what was happening. The chairman said he could not say anything on it; but he advised that I should meet the Commissioner for Local Government and Chie aincy Affairs, Mr. Adeleke Adebayo, popularly known as Banik. I met the commissioner at Ada; he asked of the poli cal group I belong to before becoming the local government Chairman and I told him I was the Youth Captain of Oranmiyan and Coordinator of Osun Progressive Force, OPF. Banik said those groups were the reason for receiving nega ve alloca on. He said the sponsors of the groups, Aregbesola and Senator Ajibola Basiru did not want Oyetola to become the governor. Basiru has not joined Oyetola camp then. That was 2019.

I told the commissioner that I didn’t know Aregbesola and Basiru in poli cs; I emerged as the Chairman from my local government through the party. Even the Coordinator of Ilerioluwa group in Ayedaade, Mr Soji Opawunmi is my personal leader. The commissioner told me to let my leader call him. I returned to Odeomu to meet my leader, Opawunmi and I narrated everything to him. He did not even know who Banik was, he collected his number and called him. He told him the party in our local government chose me as the local government chairman and not Aregbesola. He warned Banik not to tagged me to any leader in the state and not to cause disunity in the party.

A er the phone call, Banik told me to see him the following day in his office and he advised on what to do a er mee ng him. The following alloca on a er that was posive; we had li le change in the local government account. I realised that Banik was not working for the progress of the party. Any me alloca on dropped for my local government, he would call my Council Manager and instructed him not to allow me pay impress. He wouldn’t know the Council Manager was with me. There was a me I confronted him; I told him we are both poli cian, we should be each other’s keeper. I asked why he would be frustra ng me through career officials but he denied everything.

Another incident of bi er poli cs which the poli cal sycophants used to destroy APC in the state was during the lockdown period in 2020. The Chairman of APC in my local government requested that I lead him and others to a meeting with my official car to avoid being disturbed by security opera ves. On ge ng to the venue of the mee ng at Agunbelewo, Osogbo, the Chairman of the chairmen of the party, Mr. Awo doye said to my chairman, “Rahman Morounkeji, why did you come here with Lateef; you know he’s a loyalist of Aregbesola. If you forward his name as the chairman of your local government for second term, it will not fly because we know him to be a core loyalist of Aregbesola.” I was speechless.

A er the mee ng, my chairman asked Awo doye to connect me to the right camp in the party and government. He then told my chairman that I should go and join Tobalase, which was being led by JK from Irepodun then. I met JK the second day and I expressed my interest in joining Tobalase. To my surprise, JK said I should go and bring N1m to join the group. I asked him where to get the money when he knew the alloca on to my local government was nothing to write home about. He insisted that the N1m was a condi on for me to join the group. I called my local government party chairman a er that and he said I should leave them alone. I later inform Awo loye too and that’s the end of the story.

Some of us who were chairmen under Oyetola were treated like slaves. At the JAAC mee ng, no ma er how we sing-praised the Governor, he would not recognise us. Oyetola only listened to our colleagues who were Tobalase. Other local government chairmen who were maltreated included Kola Ajao, from Egbedore South LCDA, Mukaila Usman from Ede North LCDA, Sikiru Adewale from Ede South LCDA, Sekona, Orosanya from Ife North.

There was a me myself, Ajao and Orosanya wanted to travel to Sweden for a seminar on invita on. We needed the state government to give us le er to the embassy. The Secretary to the State Government, Prince Wole Oyebamiji, refused to give us le er. He said we were not part of tobalase, that we are Aregbesola loyalists.

You claimed some mes ago that Oyetola did not release your severance package, how true is that?

That is a very terrible experience. Those of us who Oyetola inherited as local government chairmen suffered under his administra on. May God not let us have the type of Oyetola in government and poli cs again in Osun. The severance package was our en tlement a er leaving office. Oyetola indeed invited us to the banquet hall of Government House and promised to do the needful. Each chairman was en tled to N5million. To our surprise, Oyetola reduced it to N1.9m and s ll divided it into four for instalment payment. He paid the first batch, N470,000 a er four months that we le office. Those of us who were perceived as Aregbesola’s loyalists among the chairmen were not paid.

The second batch of another N470,000 was paid four months a er. Oyetola did not pay me un l my poli cal leaders in Ayedaade went to plead with him. You may find it difficult to believe this; we le office in February 2021 and •Continued on Page 7