The Southwest All Progressives Congress (APC) is not sleeping on guard. At its stakeholders’s meeting in Lagos, delegates from the six states examined how the party has fared during and after last year’s general election and resolved to draw lessons from past mistakes as they commence mobilisation for future elections. Deputy Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU reports.
•Osoba, Oyebanji, Aiyedatiwa urge support for Tinubu
•‘How Southwest motivated Asiwaju to vie for president’
The Southwest All Progressives Congress (APC) is trying to put its house in order ahead of future elections. At its stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos, party leaders resolved to strengthen regional unity, settle crisis tearing the fold apart and reinvigorate its reconciliation mechanism.
The regional chapter applauded the National Assembly for passing the Southwest Development Commission Bill into law. It also lauded President Bola Tinubu for embarking on bold economic reforms aimed at fixing the country.
The chapter said there should more regular meetings of party leaders in the zone for review and interface with chieftains in public service
The meeting convened by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who is the coordinator, was attended by his colleagues-Prince Dapo Abiodun(Ogun State), Biodun Oyebanji (Ekiti) and Lucky Aiyedatiwa (Ondo). Former Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi gave the keynote address.
Also at the meeting held at Eko Hotel,Victoria, were party elders-former Interim National Chairman Chief Bisi Akande, former Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba, former Ekiti State Governor Niyi Adebayo, Prince Oluyole Olusi, Pa Olorunfunmi Basorun, Pa Busura Alebiosu, Pa Abiodun Ogunleye and Chief Alake Adeyemo,former deputy governor of Oyo State- and zonal officers, led by Isaacs Kekemeke, APC National Vice Chairman (Southwest).
Sanwo-Olu urged Southwest to support the Tinubu administration so that it can realise its goals for the country.
Noting that some members may be aggrieved that they were not accommodated by the reward system, he urged them to embrace peace, unity and reconciliation so that the party will not fall prey into the antics of the opposition.
Oyebanji, Aiyedatiwa, and elderstatesman Aremo Osoba urged the people of the Southwest to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Osoba, an All Progressives Congress (APC) elder, said the president deserved the support of the zone because the region motivated him to vie for the highest office in the land.
Oyebanji said after President Tinubu, it will take time for Southwest to produce another president.
Thanking Sanwo-Olu for hosting the meeting, the Ekiti governor called for support for President Tinubu, instead of criticising him.
He stressed:”Our members should not criticise the president in the public. We should treasure our own. We can pass our messages to him through our leaders. We dont know when Southwest will have the opportunity to have another president after Tinubu.”
Aiyedatiwa, who led delegates in singing the Southwest anthem said the government of the six states should support regional integration.
He said: “We have to do a lot for our people in terms of service delivery. We should consider regional integration. Our youths should be encouraged and empowered to occupy strategic positions. We should encourage agriculture. We should support our president. “
Osoba said Southwest should support President Tinubu because the region motivated him to vie for president.
He recalled that the zone had advised Tinubu to vie for president 17 years ago at a meeting in Lagos attended by Pa Olusi and Pa Busura Alebiosu.
He said:”We asked him to move from state politicking to national politics. We, Yoruba, sent him on an errand to Abuja. We worked and Abiola did not get there. President Bola Tinubu is there now. He may have his weaknesses. Let us rally round him.”
Osoba also urged Nigerians to be patient with the administration in its bid to reposition Nigeria.
He said:”By May 29, last year, no kobo was left behind for subsidy. Those who lost the 2023 election are still campaigning. We cannot keep quiet.”
Osoba called for unity and cohesion in the region, adding that “there is need for continuous meeting of national and state caucuses.”
He said the regional chapter should restore regular meetings as it was done in the days of Olatunji Hamzat, former zonal leader.
Osoba thanked the APC governors for maintaining security in their states. He said the mobilisation for future polls should start from Ondo by supporting Aiyedatiwa to win.
Former Interim National Chairman Chief Bisi Akande said Tinubu is president for Nigeria to be better.
He complained that while he rushed down from London to atend the meeting of the National Caucus, it was postponed.
Urging the zonal leadership to accord priority to regular meetings, he said if party meetings are not held and government is not interfacing with the party, there will be disconnection.
Olusi said the practice of regular meetings for review and feedback had been discarded by new party leaders.
Olusi said:”I was in the National Assembly before and i blew grammar there. It was in the days of Awolowo. Lam Adesina was our secretary. I was the deputy secretary. Party would give you guidance. We don’t do it now. We should start doing it.
“I was National Vice Chairman, Southwest after Senator Ayo Fasanmi. We were holding meetings. It is not governor that carries the load of the party. It is the party. You cannot be governor without the party. I suggest that we should have a committee to organise meetings.”
The APC National Secretary Senator Ajibola Basiru said the region should work to win Osun and Oyo states in the next governorship polls.
He added:”We should be meeting and mobilising regularly to showcase the achievements of our president and governors. Our opponents are spending huge amount of money to tarnish the inage of our party.
“We need to update our party register. We need to make use of the APC Progressive Institute set up to enlighten our members on political mobilisation.”
Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele told the meeting that the Southest Development Commission Bill has been passed by the National Assembly in the spirit of equity and fairness.
He thanked lawmakers from the Southwest for uniting to see it through, irrespective of their political leanings.
Bamidele said 15 of 18 senators from the region belong to APC, adding that the numerical strength has given them the influence they had deployed constructively.
He also said “all our pursuits in the National are in tandem with the goals of our party.”
Urging unity, he said:”We must meet regularly to strengthen our regional unity and give public office holders the platform for rendering their stewardship.”
Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun said Southwest should x-ray what happened in the last election in the zone.
Noting that no everyone can be in government, he added: “We must pay attention to the welfare of the party members. We must unite.”
APC National Youth Leader Dayo Israel lamented that party youths worked against the party in ignorance during the last election. He called for a special synergy between the party leadership and the youths.
Former Minister, Senator Iyabo Anisulowo, said many people were blaming party leaders at the grassroots for mobilising them to support the party in last year’s election because of the current hardship, urging government to speed up the implementation of programmes that would bring relief.
She added:”We need security in the rural areas for people to farm. Government should assist farmers with implements.
Former Osun State Deputy Governor Titi Laoye-Tomori said APC women were ready to be mobilised, urging the party to always give them a sense of belonging.
A delegate to the meeting called for the appointment of Presidential Liaison Officers (PLOs) by President Tinubu.
He said:”What the president is sending to party people is not getting down.”
APC National Vice Chairman (Southwest) Isaacs Kekemeke thanked the convener, Sanwo-Olu, for his dedication, leadership, sacrifices and support in ensuring the realisation of the meeting.
He commended President Tinubu for his courage, single mindedness and unwavering commitment to tackling head-on the maladies that had stalled national progress.
Kekemeke also commended Lagos, Ogun, Ondo and Ekiti governors for their landmark accomplishments. The zonal leader said the region was proud of the legislative activities of its state and federal lawmakers.
He recalled that Southwest came second in last year’s presidential poll with 2,279,007 votes, representing 55.82 percent. The figure represented a shorfall, compared to the 2019 election.
Kekemeke said while elected and appointed officials were budy with the arduous task of deluvering quality services to tbeir constituents and deepening physical, social and economic development in their mandate areas, the party must begin to think about the next election.
He stressed: “We must deliver in an overwhelming way for Mr. President in 2027. We must move from our second position in 2023 to first position in 2027. It is time to engage with the very informed and enlightened people of the Southwest, our hardworking and loyal women and our ever vibrant and articulate youth,on the laudable and progressive ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ of Mr. President and the various forward looking development programmes of our governors.”
However, Kekemeke said efforts should be made to to resolve the minor skirmishes among party leaders in the Southwest states.
He said:”It is time for our elders and leaders to help shore up the party’s mediatory capacity to resolve such little personality disputations so that all stakeholders are on the same page for the work ahead.”
Delegates from the six states were concerned that the Lagos State House of Assembly members were not present at the meeting, making them to wonder whether there is any unresolved rift between the executive and the legislative arms.
The meeting became an avennue for the ventilation of accumulated grievances arising from the alleged distortion of reward system in the party, detachment of public office holders from the party structure and collapse of party supremacy.
Delegates complained about lack of regular meetings, lack of access to those who rode on the back of the party to power, dwindling aggressive mobilisation for membership mobilisation, disenchantment of party youths against the party leadership ,and inadequate engagement and Empowerment of youths and women.
The party chieftains wondered why Yoruba youths were jettisoning the time-tested virtues of Omoluabi for which the older generation was noted for.
However, it was resolved that the region should double its support for the Tinubu administration in its efforts at tackling the mounting socio-economic and political challenges affecting the nation.
Fayemi, who delved into the history of APC, said it was the first successful merger and coalition of progressive forces that stayed united and won power.
After reviewing the challenges confronting the party, he said: “Mechanisms for strengthening the resource base and rewards system of the party should be improved upon so that elected officials, employees, volunteers, and members who service our various structures are able to carry out their work with predictability, integrity, and consistency and not reduced to supplicants at the tables of political appointees.”
He also suggested the nurturing of the internal democracy and crisis resolution mechanism in the party, adding that leadership should also attach value to feedback mechanism and ventilation of grievances.
The president, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, promised to take action on the issues raised and decisions taken at the Assembly.
Noting that every politician has his root, he described the Southwest as his cherished political base and constituency.
President Tinubu suggested that the zonal chapter should organise the meeting three times in a year to provide an interface between party members and those in government.
The president, who spoke on his achievements, said the pains of his reforms were not intentional, adding that they are temporary.
At the meeting were Akinwunmi Ambode, Dayo Adeyeye, Ibikunle Amosun, Gboyega Oyetola, Kayode Fayemi, Ajayi Boroffice, Tony Adefuye, Joke Orelope-Adefulire, Adegboyega Famodu, Obafemi Hamzat, Shuaibu Oyedokun, James Faleke, Sarah Sosan, Tayo Ayinde, Jumoke Okoya-Thomas, Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, Jamiu Ekungba, Yele Omoguwa, Olamiju Alao-Akala, Sola Iji, James Odunmbaku, Ganiyu Solomon, Musiliu Obanikoro, Olufemi Pedro, Rabiu Oluwa, Yemi Ikuforiji, Wale Raji, Akanni Seriki Bamu, Yomi Finnih, Isiak Akinlade, Karounwi Oladapo, Femi Ogunbanwo, Gbenga Kaka, Yemi Ali, Ayodele Adewale, Gbenga Omotoso, Isiak Salako, Tunde Alade Balogun, Adeniyi Adegbonmire, Ade Adetimehin, Yemi Sanusi, Olayide Abass, Tajudeen Lawal, Sola Eleshin, Cornelius Ojelabi, Bunmi Adetunmbi, Segun Adesegun, Omolola Ade-John, Ademola Adetokunbo, Adeniyi Adegbonmire, Yetunde Ogundipe, Tolu Odebiyi, Senator Salisu, Adebayo Adelabu, Babajide Omoworare, Dayo Adeyeye, Ayo Arise, Teslim Folarin, Remi Oseni, Musbau Oyefeso, Hon. Famurewa, Kafilat Ogbara, Ayo Afolabi, Olagunju Ojo, Niyi Babalola (Jaco), Toke Benson, Donald Ojogo, Bankole Oluwajana, Kayode Opeifa, and Muritala Seriki,Tolu Bankole, Bunmi Ajayi-Oriniowo, Femi Egbedeyi, Vincent Bewaji, Alex Kalejaye, Olabisi Kolawole, Yetunde Adesanya, Funmilayo Tejuoso, Moshood Erubami, Lawal Kolade Paff, Lateef Ibirogba, Olumide Osoba, Bose Olojo, and Segun Olulade.
In its communique, the zonal chapter resolved to support the administration of President Tinubu in his effort to revamp the economy and put Nigeria on the path of prosperity.
Other resolutions are as follows:
“There should be regular meetings of party structures at all levels, in particular, The Southwest Assembly must meet at least on quarterly basis and that the meeting must be sustained.
“There must be regular and continuous interface between elected and appointed officials of the government from the zone and the party structures.
“A high powered committee must be set up to regularly evaluate the party activities in the region, to ensure the administration promises to the people are kept
“There must be regular engagement of party stakeholders with particular attention given to the Youth and Women.
“ Deliberate and intentional plans must be put in place for future election
“Sustain the dreams and vision of our past leaders and founding fathers that birthed the excellence of Southwest.
“Improved and strategic communication at all levels to enlightened the citizenry the good works of the administration.
“ Set up a functional zonal secretariat for operational management and support.
“Data collation and management must be an integral part of party operations and activities.
“Investment in agriculture/food security, youth/women empowerment and job creation must be at the front burner of the regional development agenda in the zone.”
Source : The Nation
