Vows to resist ‘another rigging’ next year
Lasun doesn’t understand party politics – Nabena
BY AUGUSTINE AVWODE AND TIMOTHY AGBOR
The Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party is boiling with anger and a sense of justification at the same time, following the earth-shaking claim by Osun State governorship aspirant, Yusuf Sulaimon Lasun, that the ruling All Progressives Congress in the state never won the 2018 election but that it was rigged in by powers that be.
Lasun, Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives in the 8th National Assembly and chieftain of the APC in Osun State, blew the lid last week in Abuja after he collected his nomination form for the contest, which the Independent National Electoral Commission has fixed for July 2022.
Speaking to The Point in an exclusive interview in Osogbo, Chairman of Osun PDP, Sunday Bisi, said the revelations by Lasun had abundantly justified the party’s earlier outcry more than three years ago that the 2018 election was viciously rigged.
He, however, vowed that the people of Osun would not allow any form of rigging in the forthcoming poll.
He said, “History will always vindicate the just. So, we have been vindicated with what Hon. Lasun Yusuf said that the 2018 governorship election in Osun State was rigged. We have been saying it to the whole world that the election of 2018 was rigged in favour of the APC and Oyetola. And despite the rigging, we still won, they now went into what they called an inconclusive election which was highly eorganizat.
“The whole world should know that when PDP talks, we are stating the facts and that’s what Lasun Yusuf has buttressed and President Buhari had even earlier buttressed it too, that they used remote control to take Osun State by rigging. So, we have been justified by what Lasun Yusuf said. It is such a big shame. So, it should go down in history to the whole nation that the APC should be held responsible for what happened in 2018.”
“We won’t allow rigging and people are ready to defend their votes this time. We calmed people down in 2018 not to take to violence but this time around, we won’t do that
“
He vowed that what took place in 2018 would never be allowed to happen again. He insisted that the people would not be restrained this time around, noting that there was a limit to what any human being could endure.
The chairman added, “What we are saying now is that 2022 is approaching. If we were able to calm our people down in 2018, if we were able to allow peace and tranquility to reign in 2018, because we didn’t want to disrupt the peace of Osun, we will not allow rigging to repeat itself in the 2022 governorship election. There is a limit to human endurance and we can’t hold anybody back.
“We will not allow what happened in Anambra to happen in Osun when they refused to declare the winner of the election in the first round of the poll. We are sure of leading APC with over 200,000 votes next year. We won’t allow rigging and people are ready to defend their votes this time. We calmed people down in 2018 not to take to violence but this time around, we won’t do that.”
He boasted that when the APC was intact and united as one body, the PDP defeated it, noting that now that it was factionalised, nothing would stop it from being thoroughly defeated by the PDP in the coming election.
“When all of them (Osun APC leaders) were together in 2018, we defeated them. In 2018, Oyetola was here, Aregbesola was the sitting governor, and we still defeated them, and we are going to repeat that in 2022,” the PDP chairman said.
GULF IN RULING PARTY WIDENS
Meanwhile, the crisis rocking the state chapter of the APC seems to be far from over as Lasun doubled down on his claims in Osogbo, shedding more light on what went down in the past. While praising the Minister of Interior and former governor, Rauf Aregbesola, for what he did to establish the progressives in the state, he knocked him for sacrificing his friendship on the altar of loyalty to the APC national leader, Bola Tinubu.
He described the state as lacking in economic focus, saying it had no known sustainable economic blueprint. He promised to establish one when he is voted in as the governor of the state.
There has been intense squabble between Oyetola and Aregbesola.
Efforts by political leaders, both in the state and beyond to resolve the acrimony has not yielded any results.
With the emergence of a caucus, The Osun Progressives, composed of loyalists of Aregbesola and another caucus, Ilerioluwa, with politicians that are apostles of Oyetola, Osun APC has been eorganiz and sharply divided against itself.
TOP claims it was formed to correct the observed anomalies in the party and position it for the forthcoming elections while Ilerioluwa has been canvassing support for the re-election bid of Oyetola.
Despite their purported mission statements, the two camps have been at daggers drawn as they engage in tantrums, antagonisms and alleged assassination attempts among other warring postures, both physically and on social media.
The official declaration of interest of Lasun in the 2022 governorship race in the state has further widened the gulf in the party.
“He (Lasun) is praising Aregbesola now but remember that he had lambasted Aregbesola before. So, he is not the candidate of Aregbesola. We have yet to decide who will be our candidate. We have a lot of people coming up
“
Lasun, who has maintained a noticeable distance in the party since he failed to clinch the party’s governorship ticket in 2018, made some revelations last week, which political analysts have said were dangerous to the party’s chances of winning the forthcoming governorship election.
Lasun had claimed that APC rigged both at the primaries and governorship election in 2018 and hinged his verdict on the comments purportedly made by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 that Osun State was arranged for Oyetola with the aid of remote control.
Those who were looking forward to a repudiation of these claims by Lasun with a good dose of contrition for publicly exposing the soft underbelly of his party were disappointed as he doubled down on his claims in Osogbo, hitting chieftains of his party hard and without blinking an eye.
He said, “When I was the Deputy Speaker, the whole state (Osun) ganged up against me and I was never bored. And I didn’t blink for one moment. I still stayed within the party. Within the same party, I contested the governorship primary and it was rigged. I spent money. Yet, I didn’t leave the party. Recently, they conducted what they called state, local government and ward congresses, nobody called me into it, and I am still in the party. So, nobody can claim that he is more APC than me.
“But, let’s face the fact, was there an inconclusive election in 2018, there was. Was there a re-run, there was. So, why would everybody be reading the meaning to what I said? Something that they knew happened. And remember that the President, himself, said ‘even in Osun, we have to win by remote control.’ So, anybody who is picking on me for that statement, it is either he is not an Osun APC member or an indigene of the state because everybody knows (what happened).”
Revealing the intrigues and dramatis personae behind the 2018 primary, Lasun claimed, “We were to do a primary, they shifted the dates of the primary three times and we didn’t know when the primary was going to happen until less than 24 hours and I will tell you how it happened. Senator Ahmed Yerima, former Governor of Zamfara State, was chairman of the governorship primary committee in 2018 but the man did not come to Osun. You people should find out why he didn’t come.
“Senator Ovie Omo-Agege turned himself into the chairman of that committee overnight because his acting as the chairman of that committee was never official. And finally, out of about eight hours of election time, His Excellency, the Deputy Senate President, spent four hours in Ilobu alone and he actually conducted elections in two wards in Ilobu, signing six results of wards in Ilobu on the day of primary elections.
“But because of the person I am, I didn’t go to court because at the end of the day, out of the two results he signed, I think I got close to 3,000 votes in those two wards, in the night, when they read the totality of the results in Irepodun Local Government, which is eleven wards, they said I got 1,000 votes. Those are the salient points. So, that election was rigged, they concocted results.
“Don’t forget, the issue of direct and indirect primary started with the Osun election. It was basically, how do we shut out Lasun from this nomination and I am happy today that God has blessed me by making sure that each time I perceive something, God is always making it happen. I knew then that the issue of direct and indirect primary will come back to haunt APC sometime, someday and we are there now.”
In a mocking tone, Lasun berated opponents of direct primary in the party today, saying, “The same set of people who said it was through direct primary that a popular candidate could emerge, are the same set of people going all around now to beg people that, that part of electoral amendment should not be signed. Like the English people would say, the chicken has come home to roost. Omo-Agege has been compensated for that singular act. He should be careful about what he would want to say about me because I have the results that he signed. He signed a result where I have 700 votes somewhere or 1000 votes somewhere in two wards and during the announcement of elections, he now said I had 1000 votes in 11 wards. That’s something else. I don’t know what to call that.
“He (Omo-Agege) is not the only person; my colleague in the House of Assembly was there too, Peter Akpatason was also in Osun and he is currently the Deputy Majority Leader of the House. So, those two people have been compensated for what they did in Osun. I am not challenging his position (Omo-Agege) but I am challenging what he came to do in Osun in 2018. The same thing applies to Peter Akpatason, who is currently the Deputy Majority Leader of the House of Representatives. While I was at the house, I was always challenging Akpatason that he was one of the people who came to rig me out in Osun State.”
“Those who rigged the election are within a caucus of the party. Those who believe they own the party. And those (people), what they normally do is to bully people. We have money, we are the ones, nobody can do anything, yes, those were the ones,” he noted.
Lasun, who has not been pleased with Aregbesola over his refusal to support his speakership and governorship ambitions in 2015 and 2018 respectively, however, found some reasons to exonerate the minister of wrongdoings politically and admitted that everything happened because of the influence Tinubu had on Aregbesola.
He said Aregbesola sacrificed the relationship he had with him (Yusuf) to please Tinubu over the choice of Femi Gbajabiamila as the Speaker of the House.
Describing Aregbesola in superlatives, Lasun said the former governor was a “fantastic man” even though he declined to be a member of the board of trustees of TOP.
In apparent reference to Oyetola, Lasun averred that anybody trying to rubbish or ostracise Aregbesola in Osun APC was wicked and selfish, adding that the minister fought to reclaim Osun from the PDP in the state.
He said, “In the quest for claiming Osun for progressives, Governor (former) Rauf Aregbesola did very well. He led from the front. And we all fought the battle together between 2004 till November 26, 2010 when we were declared winners by the Appeal Court in Ibadan. And people should not forget one thing, I was one of the very few people to get into that court hall the day Governor Rauf Aregbesola was declared as the winner of the 2007 election. That was a very horrible day because every known APC member that wanted to enter the Appeal Court that day was dealt with. But because some of us have friends across divides, we were not touched. We were few and I remember those days when we were in the trenches, when I remember what Aregbesola did for us to get Osun into the progressive party; that man (Aregbesola) is a fantastic human being.
“Whether we (Yusuf and Aregbesola) are on the same page or not, the next few months will show. We had our differences, he fought me and I never blamed him because he told me when he wanted to fight me. In my quest to become the Speaker (House of Representatives), I have never told anyone this but I will say it for the public to hear.
“When I went to him (Aregbesola) that I wanted to be Speaker in 2015, he first accepted me, two days later, he said, ‘Lasun, we might no longer be able to go forward on this your speakership ambition, because Asiwaju Tinubu will likely support Femi Gbajabiamila for Speaker’. I said, wow, that’s good! I said I know you (Aregbesola) but I don’t know Asiwaju. He said, ‘Lasun, let me tell you this and you must know this for the rest of our relationship, anytime I am to choose between two people and Asiwaju is involved, I will always choose Asiwaju. If you go the way you want to go, we might likely part our ways.’
“Aregbesola is a fantastic human being. That is the only loyalist of Asiwaju that I know. He told me point blank, ‘if you don’t listen to me and you go ahead to become the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker, we will part ways because I can never negotiate my relationship with Asiwaju Tinubu.’ He told me this. One other thing he did that I will tell you again, I can’t remember that actual year, maybe between 2013 or 2014, he called me in confidence, and said, ‘Lasun, Asiwaju has taken ill, they want to kill him. Please, let’s organize a prayer for him.’ I did what Aregbesola did by involving me.
“We were organizing prayers every time for this man (Tinubu). Today, if they (Tinubu and Aregbesola) are fighting, it’s their problem. It’s not my problem. If all of them are fighting, I don’t care. But what I know is that Rauf Aregbesola has sacrificed the relationship he has with people like us for that group. Rauf is three things to me. One, I consider him my senior brother, two, he is my friend, three, he is my confidant.
“I didn’t hold the fact that he didn’t support my speakership ambition against him because he told me that if I was not going to listen to what Asiwaju was going to do, we were going to part ways. He told me that from the outset and I am not going to hold that against him. Initially, I was furious that he didn’t support my governorship ambition, but today, I have a free mind that that time is gone and I don’t want to remember that again.”
TOP DISOWNS LASUN AS CANDIDATE
Curiously, the pro Aregbesola group would have none of the ego massaging comments of Lasun as it disowned him as their possible candidate for the July election in the state.
A leading figure in TOP, Adelowo Adebiyi, said Lasun made a mistake by denying the group when it asked him to be one of its Board of Trustees, adding that the fact that he had appreciated their efforts at repositioning Osun APC, did not mean that he would be adopted as its governorship flag bearer.
He debunked insinuations that Lasun had been co-opted by Aregbesola to tackle Oyetola, disclosing that the group would be picking its governorship candidate probably from three key aspirants, including a former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Najeem Salam, a former Secretary to the State Government, Moshood Adeoti, and if Lasun Yusuf aligns with the group, he would also be considered.
He said, “I think we should also acknowledge him (Yusuf) for appreciating the efforts of TOP in Osun. That he denied us before would have been a mistake on his own part for him to deny us initially and to accept now. For him to realise that we are really stating facts and that we are speaking the truth about the party’s situation. Our own concern is about the party, APC, to win this governorship election. We have seen the problem earlier and that’s why we came up with TOP, that there should be a reorganization and restructuring of the party for us to win.
“He (Yusuf) was contacted, we discussed with him, we had meetings with him about four times, and for him to deny us, you know we didn’t make any comment then, we just left him out of the thing and we started our own struggle. We thank God that the truth has been said by him that the TOP people are credible and that we can restore democracy in Osun State.
“He is not part of TOP, he is one of the people that appreciate the efforts of TOP. He only aligns with the objectives of TOP, he is not part of us. We are through with congresses and now getting set for primary. If he (Yusuf) approaches us for assistance or alignment, then, we will examine it and see what we can do. This is democracy and politics is dynamic. What happened early this year is different from what is happening now. So, the dynamism of politics is what we are witnessing now in Osun.”
He added, “He is praising Aregbesola now but remember that he had lambasted Aregbesola before. So, he is not the candidate of Aregbesola. We have yet to decide who will be our candidate. We have a lot of people coming up, Najeem Salaam is part of us, Adeoti is part of us and even if he (Lasun Yusuf) joins us, we will pick one of the three persons or more but as far as we are concerned, the primary will come up in February or March. Till then, there are chances for realignment and we are open to talks with anybody.
“We are APC and if we can sit down together and fashion a way out, we can still make it in Osun. It’s only for us to come together and make a resolution on who is going to lead the struggle, appreciate everybody and let everyone come on board. That’s what we told Governor Oyetola then, that this platform must not fail but he didn’t realise the mistakes then and refused to listen to us. It’s not too late now, we can still come together but this time around, we want the best candidate to emerge.”
“If someone like Lasun can now come up and appreciate the efforts of TOP, Oyetola too can still appreciate TOP. Then we can now tell him (Oyetola), now that you have finished your term, let us have a good primary, a credible one and let the best candidate win in the primary,” Adebiyi noted.
WE WON’T DIGNIFY LASUN WITH COMMENTS – OYETOLA’S LOYALISTS
Meanwhile, the leadership of the APC in Osun State has described as spineless, bunkum and wishy-washy, Lasun’s claim that “the APC didn’t win the 2018 governorship election, which brought Oyetola into office.”
“First of all, you must play the party politics for you to get a ticket. That’s the most important thing that people always fail to understand. You cannot run an election without you being on the platform; APC or PDP or whichever party
“
The party dismissed the statement in totality, saying such claims could only come from a very desperate, dishonourable and selfish politician seeking for public attention by misleading the citizenry.
The party issued a statement signed by Kunle Oyatomi, Director, Directorate of Publicity, Research and Strategy.
Speaking for the Ilerioluwa group, Sunday Akere, the Special Adviser to Governor Oyetola on Political Matters, said Lasun’s outburst should not be dignified, adding that the party had resolved to give the party’s ticket to Oyetola for the 2022 governorship election.
He said, “Lasun Yusuf is entitled to his own opinion and his opinion should reflect that of an elder statesman of the party, a loyal and strong party man. I still want to believe that the second part of the interview they said he did in Abuja was not what he really meant because I know that even if he wanted to talk, he might have said that the party primary election was rigged against him, and I know as a party man, he would not want to comment that his party rigged the 2018 election as some people are claiming.
“He was part of the primary election in APC in 2018. He contested in the 332 wards of the state and he never contested the outcome of the election that he said was skewed against him. What everybody was complaining about then in 2018 was the introduction of a direct primary in Osun, which was new to every party member then. But the moment the election was conducted, Lasun won in his area in Ilobu and Ifon. Another contestant, Najeem, won in his own area too in Ejigbo, so, if Governor Oyetola won in the other areas of the state, does that mean that the election was rigged? I think we should not dignify such comments coming from a loyal party member and leader. Lasun Yusuf is free to express his opinion but his opinion must not be seen as that of everybody.”
The statement added, “If Lasun Yusuf claims that he would be governor in Osun next year, it’s for the people of the state to decide who will lead them and it’s for the members in APC to decide who will be their flag bearer. Just like I said, he is entitled to his own opinion and he cannot come around and claim there is no economy in Osun.
“Everyone knows that Osun is a civil service state and that the sitting governor, Gboyega Oyetola, is doing his best to transform the economy of the state. But if he knows he has magic that he can perform, let him come forward and perform it.”
Lasun doesn’t understand party politics – Nabena
Yekeen Nabena, former Acting National Publicity Secretary of APC, asked Lasun to examine himself before he goes about accusing the party of election rigging, saying he doesn’t seem to understand party politics.
Nabena said, “A man that says that the party didn’t win governorship and general elections, well, I don’t understand, and now he is buying form under the same party to contest an election. The only thing I can tell him is that the people of Osun State are going to decide who is going to govern them, it’s not Abuja. So, all those people that think they can come to Abuja and talk anyhow, their people will decide their fate.
“He said he was rigged out. How can you be rigged out? You see, everybody thinks you can just come on a party platform and win a party primary. First of all, you must play the party politics for you to get a ticket. That’s the most important thing that people always fail to understand. You cannot run an election without you being on the platform; APC or PDP or whichever party.
“So, there are two things that people don’t understand, party politics is totally different from general elections politics. So, he (Lasun Yusuf) should go back, examine himself and learn party politics before he starts accusing the party that he is seeking to run on its platform.”
Don’t allow yourself to be shortchanged again –PDP tells Osun voters
Meanwhile, the PDP has called on the electorate in Osun not to allow themselves to be short-changed again in 2022.
Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Diran Odeyemi, said the federal government, Aregbesola, Oyetola, Independent National Electoral Commission and others shortchanged the people of Osun during the 2018 governorship election.
Odeyemi said more revelations would soon be made on what happened during the 2018 governorship election.
He urged the people of the state to cast their votes for PDP during the forthcoming governorship poll and guide against rigging of their ballots.
He said, “Lasun just echoed what we all know and we are happy that their case is like a case of armed robbers who stole property that does not belong to them and they started fighting when they wanted to share the gain. More revelations will soon come out and it shows that INEC, the federal government, Oyetola, Aregbesola, and all of them shortchanged the people of Osun State. They robbed the people of Osun State by not allowing their votes to count. We now call on the people of Osun State that this time around, they should not allow APC to rob them. They should cast their votes for PDP and stand by it and ensure that this kind of revelation does not repeat itself because they are the losers while the people who believe they won, lost out.
