Osoba breaks silence on Ogun APC crisis •Says he symphatises with Amosun A national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Olusegun Osoba, on Thursday, broke silence on the internal crisis rocking the party in Ogun State, as he urged party faithful to remain steadfast and committed for the progress of the party. He said this while addressing party members during a consultative meeting held at his Abeokuta residence, saying that he and other members of the party symphatised with Governor Ibikunle Amosun, over the crisis within the party. “Please, let’s sympathise with the governor. I sympathise with him, but do not abuse him. I did not know it is an offence for me to forgive and forget incidents that happened in 2003. I accepted to forgive and forget as a leader and a Christian so that we can wrest power back. You stood like rock of Gibraltar. I do not want us to abuse anybody. I do not want us to denigrate the office of the governor. I want us to address issues with experience. I have worked with all presidents in the country. I am close to all our past leaders. I do not ask for money from anyone of them as a journalist. “Since we have been running a party, there was never a time we did fundraising. None of the past leaders have ever accused me of coming to them for money. I am not one of the journalists who beg people for money. I don’t think anyone can rubbish my integrity amongst the leaders. I did not take a dime from the present government, despite the fact that I sold my houses in Ilorin and Ibadan to fund campaigns in the two elections,” the APC national leader said. Osoba, a former governor of the state also alleged that the crisis was nothing, but a replay of the events of 2003, which was an attempt to rubbish him politically, assuring his loyalists not to entertain fears. The meeting, had in attendance members of the National Assembly which included Senators Adegbenga Kaka (East), Gbenga Obadara (Central) and Akin Odunsi (West), members of the state House of Assembly, Honourables Adijat Adeleye-Oladapo, Elizabeth Anifowose, Daisi Elemide, members of the newly-elected party executives from the ward to the state levels and thousands of members drawn from the 20 local government areas of the state. Osoba, who spoke intermittently in English and Yoruba, stated that he had never been disrespected in his relationship with the nation’s past leaders from the regime of the late General Muritala Mohammed to President Goodluck Jonathan, the way he was getting from the governor’s camp. He, however, said that he had decided to forgive and forget as a true Christian and a leader events of the past, stressing that his loyalists, who did not defect to any opposition party even in the face of the crisis. He vowed that he would relocate to Abeokuta to lead party members in the battle for the soul of the party, adding that he had begun a “new political engineering.” The former governor said: “Some now call me a beggar. Somebody wrote in a national daily that I am making demands on the Ogun State government. Should he not have asked of my own side of the story? Even if they gave me money, can that pay enough for all we did? It is my goodwill and good name I used in campaigning. Now, they said they have bought Osoba and he can no longer talk. But now, that mouth has been unlocked. If they say I am a beggar, I thank God I am no longer begging. They should hold on to their money. Throughout Daniel’s eight years, I did not die. Did I? “They have been raining abuses on me that I have been bought. I say how much can they pay us back for all the troubles we went through in 2007? Leave them, let them keep abusing me,” he said. The national leader also said he would never sacrifice the interests of the national and state assembly members who were loyal to him in order to secure a second term ticket for his son, Olumide, who is currently a member of the House of Representatives. “They said they wanted to remove all National Assembly members except Olumide and I said no, that will not happen. How could I disappoint all my followers and loyalists because of Olumide? We do not want division in the party,” he said.
Posted on: Sat, 10 May 2014 08:52:16 +0000