Osoba dump SDP, now back in APC.

•THE WAR IS OVER: From left: Chief Akande, Aremo Osoba, Asiwaju Tinubu and Otunba Adebayo...yesterday Back row (from left): Aregbesola, Ajimobi and others. 

Former Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba yesterday returned to the All Progressives Congress (APC), amid applause by the leaders of the progressive bloc in the Southwest.

The APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, confirmed the development, saying that the veteran journalist returned to join the party leaders in the work of party consolidation.

The former Lagos State governor said: “Aremo Osoba is back in the progressives leadership. He is fully back.”

Osoba, a member of the APC Constitution Committee during the formative stage of the party, hosted a “crucial” meeting of the Southwest APC governors and some top party leaders at his Bourdillon, Ikoyi, Lagos home.  Issues discussed included his return to the party, the challenges of reconciliation and harmonisation in the Ogun State chapter and the future of the party in the region. The leaders were all-smiles. There was applause as Tinubu and Osoba were locked in a firm embrace. Cameras clicked away.

Coming out of the meeting, the former Ogun State governor sang in Yoruba which translates to: “There is no more quarrel. There is no more war. That was Awolowo’s anthem”

The meeting, which lasted for four hours, was attended by  former APC Interim National 
Chairman Chief Bisi Akande, Asiwaju Tinubu, Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi, his Osun State counterpart, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, APC National Vice Chairman (Southwest) Chief Pius Akinyelure, Lagos State Deputy Governor Oluranti Adebule, who represented Governor Akinwumi Ambode, and former Ekiti State Governor Adeniyi Adebayo. Others include former Ogun State Deputy Governor Segun Adesegun, Senator Gbenga Obadara and Alhaji Bimbo Awofeso.

Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun was not at the meeting. Neither did he send a representative. But, a source close to the meeting said reconciliation is a continuous process in the zone.

Osoba defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), led by Chief Oluyemisi Falae, shortly before last year’s general elections, following differences with Amosun. His key supporters, including Senator Gbenga Kaka, Obadara, Adesegun, Akin Odunsi and other members of the Matagbamola Group, also left the party.

Aregbesola, who spoke with reporters on the outcome of the meeting, said: “ Osoba, a pioneer member of the APC, who switched to another party during last year’s polls, has returned to the fold. Aremo Osoba is back in the progressive leadership of Western Nigeria.”

The Osun State governor said the presence of the region’s progressive leaders in Osoba’s residence underscored his return into the leadership structure.

Aregbesola added: “The leadership of progressive politics in the Western Nigeria has resolved all the differences in the leadership completely. The leadership of progressive politics in Western Nigeria is united and ready to jointly prosecute the agenda for growth, purposeful leadership, development and good governance in Western Nigeria and it is committed to do that for all 
Nigeria.

“We have resolved to support the efforts at the national level to revive the national economy and put the people of Nigeria in a better stead than we inherited.

“We are committed to good governance, purposeful leadership and the change we are looking for so that Nigeria, West Africa and Africa will be better for it.”

Reflecting on the meeting, Tinubu said the Southwest progressive leaders were determined to forge ahead as a united and indivisible front. He reiterated his commitment to the progressive agenda, philosophy, principles and goals, vowing to remain an unapologetic progressive arrowhead.

Painting a picture of the progressive philosophy, Tinubu said it is not a leaderless revolution. He dismissed the insinuation that the Southwest APC is divided, saying that the leaders are not quarreling.

Tinubu also said the absence of the Ogun State governor did not suggest any ruptured relationship between him and the Southwest APC leadership, stressing that Amosun is part of the political family.

He said: “The governor of Ogun State is with us. The governor of Ogun was elected on the platform of the APC and he is in the APC and  he remains in the APC. We can vouch for him. This is not a leaderless revolution. Leaders are defined and they are identified. The leaders are united, including the Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun.”

The APC leader also dismissed the speculation that the region insisted on Akande’s candidature for the APC Board of Trustees (BoT) chairmanship, saying that it is unfounded.

He added: “ We are not in the PDP. That is where they think they are what they are not. We have never had a BoT. We have never held our congress based on any BoT. We have an internal review of our organisation and our plan. It is part of it you are seeing here now. We want to strengthen the family of the progressives. We want to stay focused in redirecting Nigeria. We want to reverse the decay of 16 years.”

The APC leader took exception to the criticisms of the Buhari administration by the PDP, saying the party lacks the moral right to criticise the government.

Tinubu spoke on the efforts of the Federal Government to revamp the economy, lamenting that the economy had been basterdised by the previous Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration.

He said: “We want to clear the mess the PDP created for 16 years. For 16 years, the PDP destroyed this country. If they (PDP) have done what was necessary, we will not be having the current fuel scarcity. If they had done the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, if they had done the railway, if they had made electricity a priority, we will not be lamenting today.”

Tinubu, who spoke on the need for an economic surgical operation, also lamented that Nigeria has become a perpetual importer of what it could produce, including fuel, rice and apple, adding that the trend should end.

He said: “Nigeria needs economic surgical operation and that is what Buhari is providing.”