A former governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, has warned the leadership of the All Progressives Congress and members of the party that the results of the Ekiti and Osun elections in 2018 will determine the outcome of the elections in Ogun and Oyo states in 2019.
Punch reports that he also warned the party not to underestimate the threat of the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, who had vowed that the Peoples Democratic Party would trounce the APC in the governorship election holding next year.
He advised them to work in unison to win the elections, even as he declared that the Ogun State chapter of the party had not zoned the governorship slot in 2019 to any senatorial district.
The APC party leader spoke on Wednesday while addressing party leaders and supporters in his Ibara Government Reservation Area, Abeokuta residence.
He said no single individual within the party, no matter had highly placed, could determine where the next governor of the state would come from.
The former governor noted that the APC needed to embrace internal democracy and shun all manner of imposition to strengthen its chances in the coming elections.
Osoba said some ex-governors that installed ‘anointed candidates’ became sworn enemies with them months after.
He stressed that Ogun East Senatorial District was equally eligible to contest the governorship seat just as the Yewa-Awori people of Ogun West.
“Don’t let us underestimate Fayose. You must fight him. We cannot afford to play with Osun either. Those two states are important. If we can do clear primaries in these two states and APC wins, then whatever happen in Ekiti and Osun must happen in Oyo and Ogun when it gets to our turn to deliver.
“As a party, we have not zoned the governorship seat. There was nothing like zoning of offices in the past. We give opportunity to anyone to aspire, but we have always used maturity to settle it among us. That is unwritten, it is a convention. It is not the rule and nobody will go against the agreement.
“Now, so many things have divided us. The Ijebu now come together to be claiming the Ijebu agenda. We must leave the field open. We must examine the Yewa and Ijebu agenda,” he said.
Osoba called for cohesion and unity, warning that it would be counterproductive for anyone to set up structure outside the party.
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