Three state governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday held a closed-door meeting with an opposition candidate in the 2018 Osun State governorship election, Iyiola Omisore.
The three governors are members of the APC reconciliation committee for the South-west and the meeting held in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Mr Omisore, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), was credited with swinging victory to the ruling APC in the election when he backed its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola, in the rerun against the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ademola Adeleke, who took the lead until the election was declared inconclusive.
The reconciliation committee, chaired by the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, also has Kaduna and Lagos State governors, Nasir EL-Rufai and Akinwumi Ambode, respectively as vice chairman and member.
According to a statement issued by Isa Gusau, a spokesperson to the Borno State governor, the meeting with Mr Omisore was in line with the committee’s “engagements with strategic allies of the party and aggrieved APC members across the six states of the Southwest.”
The statement said the committee was in Ibadan for an interactive session with APC members from Osun and Oyo states.
“The committee had last week met and held a consultative meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in his capacity as the most senior public office holder in the southwest,” the statement said.
“The committee was in Ado-Ekiti in Ekiti State where it held an interactive hearing with aggrieved members of the APC from Ondo and Ekiti states.
“In Ibadan, the committee held a strategic engagement meeting with Senator Iyiola Omisore and three others that accompanied him on issues relating to the politics in Osun State.
“The meeting which was behind a closed door was on the invitation of the committee. The committee is also expected to meet with deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Yusuff Lasun, also from Osun as well as Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu from Oyo.
Mr Shittu, who this newspaper exposed for dodging the national youth service scheme, was disqualified by the APC from participating in its governorship primary in his state.
The statement quoted Mr Shettima as expressing delight that none of the six aggrieved members, three from Oyo and three from Osun state, submitted any written petition.
“We have received the least number of aggrieved members here in Ibadan from both Oyo and Osun states,” Governor Shettima said.
“This bears testimony to the fact of Governors of Oyo and Osun have made significant reconciliation efforts. We were told of how the Governor of Oyo in particular, invited, hosted and met with all aggrieved members and came up with measures of managing grievances. We have confirmed that the governor is already fulfilling his promises of carrying aggrieved members along and this is very encouraging,” the Borno governor was quoted in the statement.
Mr Ambode was also quoted to have told the aggrieved politicians to take a cue from how the way he conducted himself after the Lagos primaries, as a a way of advancing peace building in the interest of the APC ahead of the 2019 general elections.
“We should all recognise that when there is life, there is always a hope for a better future. You can’t win all the time in politics but we should put our faith in God that the future will be bright. We should work together for our party no matter the extent of our bitterness,” Mr Ambode reportedly said.
Other members of the committee are a former deputy governor of Ekiti State, Modupe Adelabu; the D-G of NIMASA, Dakuku Peterside; and Sa’ad Bugaje.
