The former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola inaugurated the Omoluabi Caucus, a new political group within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State.
At the launch of the group in Ilesa, Osun, on Tuesday, Aregbesola said that the APC lost the last gubernatorial election in the state due to a lack of discipline and focus. He pointed to the fact that Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defeated Gboyega Oyetola, the incumbent governor at the time, at the polls in July 2022.
After losing the election, Oyetola challenged Ademola’s victory in court, but he was unsuccessful.
The former governor has said that Omoluabi is not a faction of the party and that the group is committed to strengthening the party in the state.
“We are not a faction,” Sola Fasure, his media aide, quoted him as saying in a statement.
“We are the genuine foundation members of the party and we have no intention of abandoning the ship of the party as it navigates the most turbulent waters.
“Emerging from the ashes of the near annihilation of our party in the governorship election of 2022 and the general election earlier this year, we should rise up and renew our strength and reclaim our place in the political firmament in Osun.
“Our party failed principally because of indiscipline and lack/loss of focus. This is manifested in the form of lack of character and incompetence.
“Character is the mental and moral qualities required in an individual to occupy a certain office or perform a certain task.”
Members of the newly group are drawn from the 332 wards in the state.
NewsClick Nigeria reports that Aregbesola and Oyetola have remained at daggers drawn before the July 2022 governorship in the state. Attempts by party elders at settling the dispute have largely remained unsuccessful. While Aregbesola completed his tenure as Minister of Interior with former President Muhammadu Buhari in May 29, Oyetola is now Minister of Marine and Blue Economy under the new President Bola Tinubu’s administration.