A faction of All Progressives Congress (APC) believed to be supporters of the Minister of Interior and former governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has asked Governor Adegboyega Oyetola to quit his position in the National Caretaker Committee of the party.
The demand for Oyetola’s resignation was one of the conditions placed before the Senator Abdulllahi Adamu-led APC national reconciliation committee at a meeting held in Osogbo on Saturday.
According to sources, the meeting which commenced around 4:30pm and lasted for almost three hours, was attended by the factional APC Chairman in the state, Rasaq Salinsile, factional secretary, Lani Baderinwa and the ex-Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Kolapo Alimi.
It was further learnt that another demand of the faction supported by the Interior Minister, Rauf Aregbesola, was the recognition of executives elected by the group in its ward, local and state congresses.
Speaking with our correspondent, the chairman of ‘The Sound Progressives,’ ‘Lowo Adebiyi, said the leaders of the faction at the meeting with the Reconciliation Committee called for Oyetola’s resignation before the Osun APC governorship primary, since he would be contesting for the governorship ticket.
Adebiyi said, “We asked for a free and fair primary; there should be a level playground.
The governor, being a member of the National Caretaker Committee, is an interested party. All the aspirants should be given a level playground. For the governor to contest for the APC ticket at the primary, he should quit the caretaker committee.”
Speaking with newsmen after meeting with the faction, Senator Adamu said the committee had taken note of the demands placed before it.
He said, “We are very encouraged. The people have been straightforward, they have been very honest in their various submissions and we have taken note of the comments, contributions and the interventions they made.
“We had very interesting submissions, they have been honest enough with us and we appreciate that.”
Earlier, the reconciliation committee paid a courtesy call on Governor Oyetola at the Government House in Osogbo.
“I appreciate this visit and I thank you most sincerely for taking the trouble to come to us.
No organization without issues, but what is important is to find possible way of reconciliation,” Oyetola told the committee, according to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Ismail Omipidan.