Former Governor of Osun State and retired army General, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola has faulted the process through which the minister of humanitarian affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Prof. Yilwatda Nentawe, emerged as the new National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, describing it as autocratic.
Oyinlola, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, also suspected a sinister motive in the desperation by the ruling party to have a comfortable majority in the National Assembly, which he said was to avoid President Bola Tinubu running for election in 2027.
Fielding questions in an interview on ARISE Prime Time on Thursday night, Oyinlola, when asked to comment on the rancour-free process that produced Nentawe, said, “Yes, there won’t be fights. There won’t be any issue when the system is autocratic. Who dares face Mr. President to say that is not his choice? Look at Lagos State; the members of the House, they impeached a speaker by their numbers, and somebody said you must be jokers. He returned. Is that a democracy? So, that’s what we are seeing”.
The former national secretary of the PDP blamed the gale of defections by the party’s members on alleged blackmail, inducement and coercion by the APC.
With the party having lost 17 Senators and 22 House of Representatives members to the APC giving it a comfortable majority of 70 senators, Oyinlola alleged that “The tactics of the ruling party is to ensure that the president does not run in 2027. All he needs to do is to work because if by the time he has two-thirds of the majority in the House, which is just two senators away, that is secured for whatever he wants to do and that’s why they must get more. It won’t be long before they get that too”.
Oyinlola, who said “it feels horrible”, losing so many members to the ruling party, disclosed that even the governor, Ademola Adeleke, had been under intense pressure but was in a dilemma to jump ship. He disclosed how he wept when the issue came up for discussion. According to him, “But the fact is that there is always enormous pressure from the ruling party on all the elected officers, and that’s what is producing this defection up and down.
“Why my Governor has not gone was just because he will be in a dilemma because APC has not fared well with the people of Osun State, and I can say that one anywhere. Now, telling him to roll over to APC will mean ruining his political career. Obviously, the people will not go along with him on that. He knows it. But there’s pressure on him”.
The former governor who struggled to defend the endorsement of President Tinubu by the PDP in Osun State, described it as a “political chess game” ostensibly to achieve an end, which is release of the seized local government funds.
According to Oyinlola, “Let me tell you. Politics involves a bit of game. Give and take, yes. But in this case, it’s akin to two deceitful friends who went out for hunting. One was assigned the task of beating the bush so that the game can run to the other end. One was holding the gun and the stick to hit the game that comes out. The one beating the bush shouted it is coming. And the other one at the other end said I’ve caught it. The man that said it’s coming said what is in your hand? And the man asked back what did you say is coming? So, that’s the situation which we find ourselves in Osun and it’s sad.
Insisting that Tinubu’s endorsement was a unanimous party decision, Oyinlola suggested that it was all a game. “Left to me, I have no plan to go back to APC, because I was part of the merger that made APC. I was the National Secretary of the new PDP… It’s all games – political chess”.
He however refused to expatiate on this, saying that “If I do the interpretation to the bottom of it, I’ll be giving away the strategy of my party and the other army has its own Defence Academy, where they teach tactics and doctrines.
“You know, people are suffering, and we have to adopt several means that will relieve the suffering of the people. You can imagine, for six months for the local governments not to be running. The resources available to the governor, absolutely limited”.
Disagreeing that the action compromised his integrity, he said, “Not at all. Not at all. When it comes to politics, you need to be pragmatic. Do what will give you the end result. And that’s why you have found that people are complaining that we are in agony.
“They promised us a heaven on earth, economy will be right, dollar will exchange for one on one; petrol prices will.. What has been achieved? So, if you can play that kind of a game, others can take a cue too”.
