Banji Ayoola
Pandemonium broke out on Saturday at the Osun secretariat of the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) as sounds of gunshots tore through the tense atmosphere at the sitting of the Ward Congress Appeal Committee in Osogbo.
The gunshots which ran out about 4.15pm, forced the heavily armed security operatives to rescue some members of the Appeal Committee from the building.
Tension had gripped the venue after aggrieved members of the party from across the wards in the state stormed the venue early in the morning to submit their petitions before the 9am deadline.
The combatants were mainly supporters of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola and Minister for Interior, Rauf Aregbesola. Their bloody clash during the exercise, left one Muyideen Ajetunmonbi with head injuries. Both were formerly warm political associates. In fact it is a case of the relationship of godfather and godson turned awry as they lead the two main factions into which the APC has split in Osun State.
Aregbesola handed over power to Oyetola as governor of the state after completing his two terms tenure of eight years. On completion of his two terms as governor, he was appointed a minister by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The crisis rocking the party in the State had degenerated on Saturday morning as aggrieved members of the party stormed the party’s state secretariat in Osogbo to submit petitions against the ward congress to the Appeal Committee which started its meeting same day.
They came in hundreds and besieged the party’s secretariat at Ogo-Oluwa, in the Osun State capital in a rush to beat the deadline fixed by the party for petition submission.
As early as 8 am, members of the party were seen in large numbers at the state secretariat of the party with petitions from different wards saying they had to come to the secretariat as early as possible in order to beat the 9am deadline set by the appeal committee.
They also stated that they wanted to show their grievance towards the conduct of the congress which to them was not transparent and fair.
Recall that the Appeal Committee had yesterday addressed reporters announcing its arrival and mode of operation.
The committee also asked members of the party in the state who are aggrieved with the ward congress to submit their petitions before 9am on Saturday morning.
Amid the confusion, some political thugs from a faction of the party in the state reportedly attacked members of another faction who allegedly wore fez caps of their group. Thereafter, the hoodlums reportedly descended on other members punching and slapping them till the thugs were reportedly overpowered by the mass of the members.
Specifically, the Appeal Committee from the National Secretariat, chaired by Ambassador Obed Wadzain had on Friday vowed to be fair to all members of the party during the sittings. Secretary of the committee, Barr Femi Odufowokan, had explained it received 32 petitions from 10 wards.
He said: “We received in Boripe, Odo-Otin, Ede North, Osogbo, Isokan, Ejigbo, Atakunmosa, Irewole and Ifedayo. We are going to attend to 31 because one of them is on the issue of party registration which we are not directed to attend to,” he hinted.
Though heavily armed security operatives kept vigil at the secretariat, the agitators became unruly.
Appealing to them, Ambassador Wadzain asked them to trust the committee, assuring them of fairness, saying: “We are here to look into the petition submitted. We are from the same family.
“All of you have contributed to the building, consolidation and strengthening of this party. We will not leave this place without attending to all the petitions that you have brought.
“We want you to go back home with the spirit of assurance that this party is your own and the right thing will be done. This will not be done in an atmosphere of rowdiness, we need you, people, to calm down without that we can not listen to your petition.
“We will be inviting you one by one to our sittings. We need calmness, we are all members of the same family, we are not here to fight ourselves.”
