The “Osun Progressives” caucus of the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday, mended a rift with the party’s leadership and declared its willingness to cooperate with other factions in an effort to retake power.
The faction also declared the dissolution of TOP, a group founded last year and backed by Rauf Aregbesola, the interior minister, and his successor, Adegboyega Oyetola, at the height of their disagreement. TOP was supported by Rauf Aregbesola.
Following the APC’s party congresses in 2021, TOP members had established and kept up a parallel party structure to the mainstream party, from the ward to the state level, with the backing of the governor Adegboyega Oyetola.
On behalf of the group, Mr. Najeem Salam, a former speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, spoke to reporters in Osogbo. He stated that the group’s main goal moving forward was to coordinate with other progressive groups and launch a rebuilding effort to recover state leadership.
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Salam said, “We are gathered here today, given the trajectory of our party and the electoral misfortune we suffered in the governorship election of July 16, 2022, leading to our painful loss, to espouse our resolve and the way forward.
“I am here to announce the dissolution of all factional tendencies in the party with the sole goal of uniting all core Omoluabi Progressives on a rebuilding mission that will return us to the leadership of our state and people.
“We are hereby dissolving The Osun Progressives and the faction of the party associated with it to facilitate the unity of purpose that this time requires.
“For effective closure, we will have a truth and reconciliation forum within the party when it is fully restructured, with the sole purpose of preventing any recurrence of the ugly past.
“With this hand of fellowship and the olive branch, I believe that a new vista of hope, vision, passion, and action will emerge in our party.”