All things being equal, the primary election for the selection of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the July 16 governorship election will be held today as three aspirants battle to be the flagbearer of the party.
POLITICS NIGERIA reported that there have been serious crisis in the party ahead of the conduct of its primary election. The most pronounced problem rocking the party now is the rift between former Governor, Rauf Aregbesola and Governor Gboyega Oyetola, who is seeking re-election.
This newspaper takes a look at the three contenders contesting in the primaries, their experience in politics and controversy surrounding their ambitions.
They are Gboyega Oyetola, Moshood Adeoti and Lasun Yusuff.
Gboyega Oyetola
He is the current governor of Osun State and had earlier served as the Chief of Staff to the former governor.
His emergence in 2018 was said to be influenced by Aregbesola and national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu, who is also his nephew.
The Iragbiji born politician had his first degree in Insurance and Masters degree from the University of Lagos. He worked in several insurance firms before establishing his own firm, Silvertrust Insurance Brokers LTD.
As he made a move for a second term, Oyetola was disowned by his predecessor. The crisis between Oyetola and Aregbesola has led to violent exchanges in the last few months.
The former governor accused his successor of deviating from the core principles and values of the progressives and should not be allowed to contest again.
Meanwhile, Oyetola as an incumbent governor still has the backing of Asiwaju Tinubu, ex-governor and party chairman of APC, Bisi Akande and also the support of the state executive of the party under the chairmanship of Adegboyega Famodun.
Moshood Adeoti
Now the preferred aspirant of Aregbesola, Moshood Adeoti is a former state chairman of the defunt Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Osun.
Aregbesola upon emergence as governor appointed Adeoti as the Secretary to the State Government. He contested in the 2018 APC primary elections but later decamped to ADP after he accused the progressives of using all machineries to favour Oyetola.
Interestingly, he returned to the party after election to join the Aregbesola’s camp of the APC, populated by a group called ‘The Osun Progressives.’
Last Monday, Aregbesola handed the flag of the party to Adeoti as his next candidate to be the governor of the state and they have since been meeting with notable party stakeholders to vote for him in Today’s primary election.
Lasun Yusuf
Lasun is a former member and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nigeria.
He is a member of the All Progressives Congress and represented the Irepodun/Olurunda/Osogbo/Orolu Federal Constituency of Osun State. He contested in the 2018 primary elections in Osun but lost.
Frustrated by this, he decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on September 15, 2018. He didn’t stay long before returning to APC.
Unlike the two other contestants who have different political structures backing them, Lasun is running a “one man show”. He earlier ganged-up with Adeoti to fight Oyetola but their romance hit the rocks when Adeoti left him to receive Aregbesola’s anointing.
Regarding Tinubu’s ambition to become the next president of Nigeria, it’s unfortunate that this man I respect a lot has misplaced his true spheres in our country. Besides being too old, he is weak in body and mind for the job. The best thing that big uncle Tinubu can do for Nigeria today is to use his enormous wealth to provide good roads, potable water, and electricity to various communities. Assisting the poor with food, education, and small scale businesses is commendable too. Let him stop wasting his money in politics. If he gives me ten million dollars, I will accept it with thank, but will not vote for him simply because his presidency will not help unit the diverse ethnicities, bring equitable restrucuring, decentralise power, reduce/stop severe insecurity, stop corruption, or advance our people in anyway.