- Form alliance to wrest power from Aregbesola
From CLEMENT ADEYI, Osogbo
As the race to take over Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s seat in 2018 gathers momentum in Osun State, members of opposition and minority parties in the state have formed an alliance to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
They have also vowed to overrun erstwhile ruling party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), if it eventually bounces back and gains popularity when the race begins. Towards this end, politicians have started putting heads together to actualize the dream.
They are insisting that it would no longer be business as usual for political bigwigs who have dominated the leadership landscape over the years and are bent on taking over the reins of power next year.
It is against this background that they decided to form a movement to translate to a political party that would give APA and PDP a big fight in 2018. Among the parties that merged to form the alliance are Democratic People Party (DPP), Action Alliance (AA), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Labour Party (LP) and Accord Party (AP).
The alliance, which is now operating under the aegis of Isokan Osun Movement, it was gathered, would metamorphose into a political party and hopes to align with the mega party being proposed. The movement had already wormed itself into the hearts of some indigenes of the state who are being mobilised on the strategies to be deployed in wrestling APC and PDP out of power.
Chairman of the movement, Suleiman Bello, told Daily Sun that it was high time the people of the state were rescued from what he described as government’s insensitivity to the plight of the people that have been languishing in hardship and abject poverty, following irregular payment of salary and pensions of the civil servants.
He said it was against this background that all hands must be on deck to displace the APC and give mandate to a new party that would fulfill the yearnings of the citizenry:
“Isokan Osun’s mission is to free Osun indigenes from the chains and shackles of the present APC administration in 2018 and enthrone a people-oriented governance that would make life meaningful to them through the dividends of democracy.”
He added that the move was to harness members in other smaller parties as well as members who are no longer interested in the activities of the ruling party, APC as well as the PDP and curry their support in order to push them out of power in the next election. At a sensitization programmes held in Iwo Town recently, leaders of DPP, AA, SDP, LP and AP were in attendance and assured Isokan Osun of their full support.
Bello promised that the movement would go the whole hog in producing a new set of leaders that would constitute major candidates to battle other counterparts from PDP and APC “with a view to breaking their cycle of leadership which has held the country to ransom over the years through maladministration.”
The chairman explained that the leaders of the merged parties had been holding several meetings for the past six months to achieve a common goal as APC did during the last presidential election and took over power from the PDP:
“We are emulating APC right now. We want change again, but not the type of dehumanising change that APC brought to the country. Isokan Osun is putting God first because we believe that God is the only one that can bring positive change to His people.”
The secretary and deputy governorship candidate of Accord Party in the 2014 election in the state, Opawuyi Bolaji, lamented that Aregbesola was not proactive enough in meeting the yearnings of the people: “Isokan Osun will produce a home-based candidate who understands the plights and needs of the people and make them happy.”
Chairman of Media and Publicity Committee, Iwo Federal Constituency, Kunle Alabi, said: “The ruling party, the APC, led by Rauf Aregbesola has bitten more than it can chew as Aregbesola’s administration has put the state into debts that the generations to come may not be able to pay. I call on the people of the state to embrace Isokan Osun Movement, which is ready to raise a credible candidate that would redeem the people from impoverishment in 2018.
“We are very sure that APC is a goner as far as 2018 gubernatorial election in Osun State is concerned. Market men and women, teachers, civil servants, pensioners, students, transporters, commercial motorcyclists and other artisans are fed up with the APC leadership in the state.”
He assured that the movement was working hard to present an acceptable politician who could be trusted with public funds and who is well versed in governance and committed to selfless service to humanity.