Crisis In Osun APC Over Cabinet List

Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are currently engrossed in crisis and confusion, as the selection of commissioner nominees to serve in the cabinet of Governor Gboyega Oyetola has set members against one another.

The leadership of the party in the state had called for nomination of three qualified candidates from each of the nine Federal Constituencies by APC stakeholders from the areas, a situation that has pitched members against themselves.

The nomination process starts from the ward level, and the nominees at the ward level would be sent to the local government and then to the Federal constituency.

Findings however showed that the rush for the slots have been resulting to attacks on one another where consensus could not be reached.

While in some Local Governments, there were consensuses, in some councils, the stakeholders had to result to elections when they could not agree on a particular candidate, just as some leaders damned the consequences and picked their favourite candidate.

In Olorunda Local Government, there seems to be confusion over who has emerged as the choice of candidate, as the two major contenders, Wasiu Adebayo and Sola Oladepo are laying claim to the nomination by party leaders and other stakeholders. A similar scenario is playing out in Osogbo Local Government.

In Irepodun Local Government, it was gathered that supporters of two of the aspirants for the slot, Kolapo Alimi and Kamil Oyedele are up against themselves over who emerges, as they were reported to have engaged in physical combat on few occasions.

In Obokun and Oriade Local Governments, there were also issues, as some major stakeholders were not comfortable with the names thrown up and ratified by some of the leaders, a situation that has triggered petition to the state Secretariat of the party.

A member of the state party executive who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter said, only few local governments have been able to agree on their candidates. He decline to mention councils.

According to him, “As far as I know, I can tell you, there are issues and it is only few local governments that have been able to agree and if we are not careful it might boomerang.

“The issue is that the Governor and the party know who they want to appoint but they are now asking people to seek nomination and at the end of the day, they will pick one. The path we are toying in appointing the cabinet members is not the best and the party leadership must find a way to manage it well.

“Unfortunately, many of the names thrown up without consensus in some of the councils are not popular and politically that is dangerous for us, especially for the second term bid of Governor Oyetola.