Hon Abdulrazak Salinsile is the Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State. Salinsile, who served as Chief of Staff to former Governor Rauf Aregbesola, in this interview, tells TIMOTHY AGBOR, that the party faces imminent collapse, except a quick intervention takes place. He also alleges that his party is already planning to carry out rigging of congresses through manipulation of membership register. Excerpts:
You are the Secretary of Osun State APC and you always criticise and attack the leadership of your party, what informed this?
Yes, because the party is going into extinction. Those of us who worked assiduously to put the party into power in 2010; the struggle of which started in 2003 and by the grace of God, we had election in 2007, we were in court for three and half years, before we finally got power in November, 2010. We will not sit down and fold our arms till everything gets scattered because it cost us a lot. Some people lost their lives in the process, some lost materials, some were incarcerated, and some were maimed. We don’t want a repeat of these ugly things. So, that’s why we are crying. The party has been taken away from the party Secretariat to the Chairman’s house. So, they don’t involve those of us who are real progressives in the administration of the party any longer. We were trying to do it underground so that it won’t get to this stage but at the end of the day, they seem not to heed our warnings. And with the way things are going, there is imminent collapse of the party. The party, as it is now, is in a very dangerous situation which cannot have any credible performance in any election.
It was alleged that the whole crisis snowballed when you joined other loyalists of Rauf Aregbesola to form a caucus called The Osun Progressives, TOP. Is that correct?
We formed the caucus to rescue the party. The crisis has been on for long. You know, when you see two people fighting in public, especially family members, I believe there must have been underground arrangements or ways to settle the matter but when every available opportunity fails, it’s then that it gets to the public. We have over 300 groups like TOP in Osun APC. I talk in my capacity as the Secretary of APC, the records are there to substantiate what I am saying. TOP is not a political party and we are not running a parallel APC. APC is our party and we are making these efforts because we don’t want APC to die; but some don’t care whether it dies or not because originally, they don’t belong to this party. So, if it fails, nothing concerns them; they have a second address as it affects party affiliation.
How have you been coping as a member of a caucus that is not at peace with the Governor and at the same time the Secretary of APC that is led by the Governor?
I have done a lot underground to prevent this precarious situation we are in. About nine months ago, I sat the caretaker Chairman of APC, (Prince Gboyega Famodun) down and discussed the issues affecting the party with him. I told him that the party is heading towards a very dangerous level. I said that the position that the party was would not win any election. I proffered solutions to him and all of these solutions, he didn’t heed to any. None of them was implemented.
Your caucus accused the party of manipulating members’ register. What did you do as the Secretary to avert this development?
When registration materials were coming from Abuja, ordinarily and expectedly, they should be delivered at the party Secretariat and who heads the party Secretariat? I head it. The chairman is the administrative head while I head the Secretariat. I should take delivery of the party materials and it should be at the Secretariat for onward distribution to all the local government areas through the party chairmen in our various local governments. That was not the case. It was delivered at the Government House for whatever reasons. Funny enough, I got a hint of what was coming and I listed it. By the time they (APC chairman and others at the State Government House) presented the materials, they did not tally with the number that came from Abuja. I raised the alarm and the Chairman said someone else took delivery of the materials. That was the flimsy excuse he gave. Ordinarily, the party chairmen in various local government areas, traditionally and statutorily, should be in charge of distribution and everything that has to do with the registration materials. But, it wasn’t done that way. The cabinet members, the Commissioners, the Special Advisers of Mr. Governor were used to distribute these materials. Why? That in itself called for suspicion of whatever hidden agenda they had and I raised alarm. Now, the excuse given was that party chairmen would request for fund to transfer the materials to their various places; do they expect them to carry the materials and walk through the streets to their various local government? I don’t know how they run government like that.
“As far as TOP is concerned, we are less concerned about the Governor and his administration. We are concerned about the party. It is when we have the party that we can think of winning elections”
Now, when we got to the field, the people that were in charge of the registration; I want to say it categorically and unequivocally that they were frustrated out by not taking care of them. Imagine people working for days and the party couldn’t even give them water. At the end of the day, these people abandoned the assignment. I want to say it loud and clear that it was a calculated attempt to frustrate the process so that their plan of rigging at the Government House would be carried out.
In all of these crises, what is Governor Gboyega Oyetola doing to address them as the leader of the party in Osun?
With due respect to Mr. Governor, I don’t know what he is doing about it. This is not an underground group (TOP). He (Oyetola) has been informed through several means about things that were wrong in the state so that he can look into them and prevent the party from being disintegrated. But he didn’t listen to the complaints, all he cared was who are they? And I would not know whether he understands what he should be telling chairman (Famodun) about the party. As far as TOP is concerned, we are less concerned about the Governor and his administration. We are concerned about the party. It is when we have the party that we can think of winning elections. Anything that has to do with government and governance, give it to the Governor but as the head of the party (Secretariat) in the state, I don’t know what he is doing.
Don’t you think these crises will affect the chances of APC in the 2022 Governorship election?
If we can rescue this party from the imminent collapse that it is facing now, there won’t be any fear of winning the 2022 election.
