The All Progressives Congress (APC), in Osun State, has said that on three occasions, it has reported the activities of the immediate-past Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, to the national secretariat of the party and expressed hope that a decision would be taken soon on its complaints.
Responding to questions at the state party secretariat in Osogbo after the party’s stakeholders’ meeting on Tuesday, the Osun APC secretary, Mr. Kamoru Alao, who was flanked by the state chairman, Mr Tajudeen Lawal, and a former Commissioner for Information, Sunday Akere, also urged members to participate fully in the electronic membership registration that would commence this week.
Alao revealed that the Osun APC had on three different occasions reported Aregbesola to the national secretariat of the APC.
“Rauf Aregbesola, as far as we are concerned in Osun APC, we have been saying severally that he is no longer a member of the APC in Osun State.
“We have taken steps three times to notify the national secretariat that Aregbesola is giving us distractions in the APC affairs in the state, that the party at the national level should do the needful in dealing with him.
“He is a national figure, we know. But if we can not handle his case in this state, we have referred his matter to the national secretariat and I know, soonest that they are going to act on it,” Alao said.
Speaking further on the membership registration of the party, Alao warned Osun APC members against participating in any other registration apart from the one organised by the party.
He said, “The registration of our party, APC will start tomorrow (Wednesday) when the national chairman of the party will inaugurate the committee that will train the trainers at the local levels.
The one we are referring to is the one organised by the Omoluabi group, being led by former governor, Rauf Aregbesola. We are discouraging our members who are loyal to APC not to go there because Omoluabi as a group is not known to our party in Osun.”
The communique issued after the meeting and signed by the Osun APC chairman, Lawal, read: “The meeting also clarified that the party has not started any membership registration in the state and any form of registration on behalf of the party is unknown to any organ of the party and, therefore, the party members should ignore such registration in whatever form.”
The Omoluabi Caucus, loyal to Aregbesola, had on Sunday, June 2, announced the commencement of its membership registration exercise.
A statement signed by the Publicity Secretary of the group, Oluwaseun Abosede, said the leaders of the caucus at the June edition of its monthly stakeholders meeting in Ilesa, also unveiled its website, which would allow members the opportunity to follow its activities, as well as register for its membership all over the world.
The statement said Aregbesola, after registering his membership of the caucus from Ward 08, Ilesa East Local Government, stated that notable forces determining the electoral fortune of the state were in support of the caucus and its activities.
When contacted for a reaction to the Osun APC claims regarding Aregbesola and Omoluabi Caucus membership registration, Abosede said the group would not be distracted, noting that, “We will prefer not to respond to the distractions of those who are not capable of preserving the political heritage they inherited.
“Omoluabi Caucus is not ready to trade words about anything other than what we are focused on at the moment, which is to aggressively drive members to the progressive family in our bid to reclaim the mandate lost to the PDP.”
