Osun APC Members Call For Restructuring, Removal of Party Chair

...As Famodun condemns protest by 'Aregbesola's supporters', describes it as shameful, callous, wicked Many members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State on Tuesday staged a protest rally to call for the restructure of the party as a result of the party loss in the July 16 governorship election. However, while reacting to the protest, the Osun State chapter of the APC condemned the protest embarked upon by the supporters of the ‘Interior Minister, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola’, against the state leadership of the party and the administration of Governor Gboyega Oyetola. Also, the APC members also called for the removal of the APC state Chairman, Prince Gboyega Famodun, accusing him of alleged mismanagement of the party and culpability in its electoral defeats. According to the party members, who converged on Osogbo from across the 30 local government areas of the state, they described the party under Famodun as a ‘vehicle with flat tyres’, saying it cannot deliver victory in the 2023 general election. The APC members carried placards during the protest with inscription like: ‘Osun APC Needs Restructuring’; ‘Famodun Must Go’; ‘Save Osun APC From Total Collapse’; ‘Sack Famodun, Aregbesola Is The Soul Of APC/Progressive Politics in Osun’; ‘There is No Life in Osun APC Again’! ‘2023: Asiwaju May Lose Osun with Famodun as APC Chairman’, among others. Chanting various political songs, the APC members walked through Odi-Olowo, Olaiya, and Ogo-Oluwa amid heavily armed security operatives, to deliver a letter to the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Timothy Owoeye. It was observed that some armed political hoodlums were stationed inside the APC state secretariat at Ogo-Oluwa, Osogbo, whose gate was locked, a situation that prevented the protesting party members from going into the place to meet available party officials. Addressing journalists and members of the public at different locations, a prominent member of the APC, Abosede Oluwaseun, said the party needs to be restructured from unit, ward, local government to the state level for it to be united and formidable ahead of the coming general election. Oluwaseun said: “With conscious, sincere and objective analysis of the outcome of the governorship election, we discovered that the electoral loss is not only self-induced by the party’s administrators, it also reflects party issues which had been raised by concerned minds in the recent past. “The party issues, which are unattended to presently, regrettably cost our party the electoral victory, and as concerned progressives, we felt the necessity to inform you that it is not safe to approach the 2023 general election with same paper-tiger party under the leadership of Prince Gboyega Famodun, the state chairman of the APC. “The issues, to summarise them, boil down on glaring mismanagement of the party by Governor Oyetola and the state party Chairman, Famodun. The chairman has totally demonstrated lack of capacity to manage the party, and this has reflected in the result of the July16 governorship election. “Under the leadership of both Governor Oyetola and Famodun, the APC degenerated and assumed the dangerous trend of having factions which later caused catastrophe and grief. Oyetola, right from the inception, embarked on a divisive move which transmuted the party into two parts. “As a chairman of a ruling party going for election, Famodun didn't consider it essential to resolve disputes and crises that dotted all the local government areas in the state. Before the governorship election and till now, there is no understanding, cooperation, unity and cohesion in the party.” Speaking further, Oluwaseun said: “In order to address this emergent clear and present danger, we unequivocally make the following demands: ‘The dissolution of all party structures from the unit to the state level. The setting up of an independent caretaker committee to oversee the restructuring of the party and turn it into an election-winning machine again. “Composition of an all-inclusive party executive structures from wards to state level within 90 days; and the redistribution of the state and federal legislative tickets in an all-inclusive manner to reflect true membership structure and tendencies. “This in our humble opinion is the way forward from the logjam we found ourselves in the APC and unless we urgently take these steps, we stand the grave risk of suffering worse consequences in the coming elections.” Addressing the protesters, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Timothy Owoeye, assured the party members that necessary steps would be made for the party to be united and formidable. Owoeye said: “I want to assure you of the fact that every necessary step would be taken for our party to be united and formidable to continue to rule and win future elections.” Consequently, according to the state chairman of the party, Famodun, in a statement issued by his Media Adviser, Kola Olabisi, in Osogbo yesterday, “the protest was shameful, callous, primitive, selfish, wicked, misplaced and inconsiderate for the Aregbesola supporters who glaringly worked against the success of Governor Oyetola at the polls to now be canvassing restructuring of the party through a sponsored protest. "When I heard that the supporters of the immediate-past governor of our state, Aregbesola, were protesting, I thought my memory was playing me false as they cannot insulate themselves from whatever might be the current plight of the APC in Osun State. "Assuming, but not conceding that there are challenges within the party, protesters should be told that they lack moral right to either suggest or effect any likely solution as it is on record that they massively and collectively worked against Oyetola, the APC governorship candidate, in the just-concluded election in line with the series of their threat. "One would have thought that the appropriate place for them to canvass for the restructuring of any party is Senator Ademola Adeleke's Ede country home, who they voted for with flaunted pride.”