Our Party Remains Indivisible — Osun APC Boasts

Against the backdrop of the recent backlash following the comments made by the former governor of Osun State and Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, at Ifofin, Ward 8, Ilesa East Local Government Area, last week Friday after he revalidated his membership, the ruling All progressives Congress (APC) has boasted that the party remains indivisible irrespective of the perceived differences within its rank and file.

The party gave the assurance on Wednesday in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Wole Adunola and made available to the media.

The spokesperson of the party said that rather than joining issues with the Minister, he only advises members of the party to be wary of frivolous comments and bear in mind that whatever the perceived differences at the moment, the party remains a one big family and that conflict of interest will be resolved amicably among the leaders of the party.

The statement reads, “I have carefully followed all the backlash that the comments made by one of our esteemed leaders in the state, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, at the sideline of his revalidation exercise last week. While I won’t join issues with our leader, however, I must state as follows:

“That irrespective of whatever perceived differences today, Osun APC remains an indivisible entity and Governor Gboyega Oyetola has indeed given consolidation a perfect definition via his administration many impactful programmes across the length and breadth of Osun to the admiration of residents and stakeholders.

“It is important to state that APC is a national party, a virile one for that matter, and every party that desire to continue to build on its strength must continue to open doors for interested members of the public particularly heavyweight politicians as witnessed in Osun recently when Otunba Iyiola Omisore led thousands of his teeming supporters across the state to the ruling party officially.

“While the Minister of Interior is entitled to his opinion, I am however sad that within the same family, our members resulted into calling names and threw caution into the wind without considering the consequence of such action. They have all forgotten that whatever perceived differences today shall be resolved without any of the followers on the seat.

“The recent example was the close door meeting between Governor Gboyega Oyetola and the Minister of Interior himself, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, at the instance of Baba Bisi Akande and our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The quartet held a meeting for hours without any of the followers near the meeting room. This should be a lesson that no matter the level of misunderstanding today, it will be resolved without those puffing the ember of discord around the vicinity.

“As a party, we shall continue to attract valuable politicians into our folds. Politics is a game of numbers and that is the basic strategy of politics globally. We want to assure our members and leaders that our party is big enough to accommodate every interest. No one can play others role, every sane individual is important in politics irrespective of class, religion and other social discrimination.

“We must all continue to work for the success of our administration in this onerous task of taking Osun to greater heights and this is being tackled head-on by a reserved, calm and calculative governor, Gboyega Oyetola. He has continued to demonstrate the confidence reposed in him by the people of Osun and should not be distracted”, the statement concluded.