Osun 2022 And Its Aftermath: Oyetola Is The Lead Rallying Point For APC -By Kayode Sowade

The Osun 2022 election was one filled with many hope, political skirmishes, and interests-realignment, which began at the fore of the intra-party gubernatorial primary election that produced our achieving leader, His Excellency Isiaka Adegboyega Oyetola to represent the largest political party in Africa as the candidate, and in pursuance of his second term bid.

The July 16 election portrayed the wide acceptance of our beloved party, All Progressives Congress, and the firm beliefs of the Osun people in her manifesto, and the Oyetola candidature. However, certain elements truncated such expectations of the Osun people and maneuvered the situation to fit some specific plots, which led to our party seeking redress in courts.

The judicial interventions that started right from the Osun Governorship Petition Tribunal in August 2022, and its judgment delivered in the favour of our party and candidate on 27th January 2023, was set aside by the Appellate Court in March 2023, which had the latter upheld by the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court of Nigeria. This did not go in our favour, but like our leader, the former Governor and gentle achiever, His Excellency, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola said, “We strongly believed we presented a good case before the Supreme Court but the Court thought otherwise and has given its verdict. While the outcome is against our wish and that our party members and supporters, we are all bound to accept it as law-abiding citizens.”

We will however not cry over spilled milk by denigrating the Nigerian temple of justice and the last hope of the common man, it is a resolve for us as a party to move forward and chart a better course for the prosperity of our beloved party and state. The election and its accompanying activities have come and gone, our minds should now be fixated on the next four years, with some months gone already – a pointer that the coming election is almost here.

His Excellency, Isiaka Adegboyega Oyetola has done well for our party and the state, by creating an enabling environment to drive home our agenda and policies, and today serves as a rallying point for all members and supporters of our great party, the All Progressives Congress in Osun State.

With the disbandment of a faction of our party, The Osun Progressives, it is time to set aside personal differences and political disagreements and stay committed to the rebuilding of the All Progressives Congress, by extension, the growth and development of Osun, and our nation Nigeria. The days of the “hand of Esau, and voice of Jacob” are long gone, but the time to choose a side is here. We must all join hands with the leader of our party in the State, Alhaji Isiaka Gboyega Oyetola, the State Chairman, Alhaji Tajudeen Lawal, and other leaders, under the guidance of Chief Bisi Akande to perform this important task of rebuilding.

All hands must be on deck, from our respective Wards, through Local Governments and the State towards rejigging the Progressives ideals and ethos, as the Osun people are earnestly awaiting our return to deliver responsible governance, far from one characterized by violence.

We pass time, we gain time; we rob and get robbed of time, we lose time, and we have infinite time. However, none of us possesses the strength necessary to halt or slow down the passage of time. Do we have little influence over it at all? Not at all. Even if we have no control over how time passes, we can still make the most of it. Members and supporters of the Osun All Progressives Congress now is the time to make the best use of our time.

Paraphrasing the words of Stephen Alder, “Nothing is cooler and more attractive than a big comeback”, that will be us because the comeback is always greater than the setback.

Kayode Sowade is an ardent follower of Oyetola and by extension Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and a lover of his town Modakeke, and Ife in general.