The internal crisis in the All Progressives Congress assumed a life of its own in the southwest on Monday with Ekiti and Osun chapters in a war words over Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s visit to his counterpart, Ayodele Fayose.
The Osun state chapter reacted swiftly, criticizing the Ekiti State chapter for not recognising the political maturity displayed by Ogbeni Aregbseola in his visit to Governor Fayose, at the weekend.
The war of words is coming barely a week after the national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu accused the national chairman, John Oyegun, of derailing the party’s progress with undemocratic attitude and the pursuit of selfish ends.
The leadership of the two states are said to be divided along the two feuding groups at the national level.
Fayose, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was commended by Aregbesola for being an “omoluabi” and a hardworking governor, who had turned around the fortunes of Ekiti state in terms of infrastructure.
Berating Aregbesola over his visit to Fayose, in a statement, the Ekiti State publicity secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, described Aregbesola’s visit to Fayose as a slight on APC.
The party said the visit showed the contempt which the party and its leaders were held by the Osun governor after Fayose had caused severe pains in the lives of APC members, some of whom had been languishing in jail for about two years for offences they did not commit.
“Aregbesola’s visit to Fayose praising him as omoluabi and for the achievements by APC-led government is not alone embarrassing but also awful in the face of sustained attacks on APC members, some of whom are still languishing in jail for about two years over trumped-up charges by Fayose.
“It is shocking that Aregbesola as a governor and one of the leading lights in APC in the South West and indeed the nation, would be visiting Ekiti State without putting the leaders into confidence, more so on a visit to a man, who once wished the President dead and had done unbelievable things both in Nigeria and abroad to bring Buhari’s government down.
“Worse still, Aregbesola was praising the man, who will stop at nothing to bring the APC-led Federal Government down after several years of failed attempts by the progressives to win the presidency of Nigeria,” he said.
Responding, the Director of Publicity of APC in Osun State, Kunle Oyatomi, said: “Politicians should grow up and they should know the difference between governance and politics.
Aregbesola is the head of government in Osun just as Fayose is the head of government in Ekiti. We are in a federation in which these two governors don’t necessarily have to belong to the same party.
“Their differences in political alignments do not stop interaction between the two as heads of their various governments, neither should the interaction between them be politically given.
“It will be irresponsible for any head of government to visit another head and then begin to throw political insults on him simply because one abhors the politics of another. Aregbesola has shown maturity in his interaction with Fayose. To criticise him for doing so, is not politically correct.”
