Ogun Crisis Messy; Amosun writes open letter to fed. lawmakers; calls them Agents Provocateur

Ibikunle Amosun wrote an open letter to one of the Federal lawmakers, Senator Gbenga Obadara warning him and other federal lawmakers from destabilizing the party.

The governor also described the recent political crisis in the State as a premeditated attempt by members of the National Assembly elected on the platform of the State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to cause tension in the State.

Amosun, who made this assertion in a letter titled, “Pulling Down the House to Protect a Corner: A Note of Caution”, dated 18 January, 2014 and personally signed by him and sent to Senator Gbenga Obadara, representing the Ogun Central Senatorial District, however advised them to desist from their plot as it is an ill-wind that blows no one any good.

He cited the 9 January,2014 violence at the State party secretariat and the disruption of a political meeting at Wasimi in the Ewekoro Local Government Area on 16 January,2014, and specifically said the Wasimi incident “was part of a premeditated, choreographic and coordinated but needless crisis in our great party, All Progressives
Congress (APC), in Ogun State with the National Assembly members elected on the platform of the party as the major Agents Provocateur, working in concert with other elements within and outside the party.”

According to the governor, “In the last few months, I have received security reports and information from credible sources, including party faithful, leaders, mutual friends and utterances directly emanating from your group, indicating that you and your colleagues were planning to precipitate a crisis in our party in pursuit of your
personal agenda.”

Amosun said, he initially dismissed the reports, but said the “unfortunate events of the last few weeks, with their intensity and frequency, have lent credence to them.

The governor also described the incidents as part of a larger plot by the group “to control the structure of our party in the State, commencing with the hijack of the party membership registration exercise, hence the attempt to foist a ‘Harmonisation Committee’ on the party in the State.

“The second objective is the desire of all the National Assembly members from our State and some members of the House of Assembly to secure automatic second-term tickets for the general elections in 2015, without regard to the opinions of the generality of members of our great party in Ogun State.

“In order to get the support of the unwary, these personal agenda of the very few have been couched and packaged as altruistic party issues and deliberately orchestrated to attract national attention”, the letter read in parts.

Governor Amosun explained his efforts since assumed office to work in a harmonious way with the Federal lawmakers for the progress and unity of the State, the move that, according to the governor, have been rebuffed by the lawmakers.

“By the benevolence of God and the support of the good People of Ogun Central, I was elected a Senator in 2003 and will continue to hold in the very high esteem the institution of the Senate, in particular, and the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in general.

This letter is directed to you as the contact point for your colleagues from Ogun State in the National Assembly because you are the one currently occupying the same seat in the Senate that I occupied a decade ago.

“It is regrettable that despite all my efforts to warm up to you and your colleagues since your nomination as party candidates and up till now, it is obvious that your group has always had scanty regard for me and my office because you believe that I played no role in your emergence as party candidates and subsequent elections in 2011 and will play no role in your re-election. This explains why you continue to rebuff all my initiatives to make us work together as a team in the overall interest of our party and the good People of Ogun State. Nonetheless, I remain undeterred in the search for unity. You are therefore at liberty to share the content of this letter with your colleagues” Amosun posited.

The governor alleged that the group plans to achieve its narrow objectives using eight strategies: the instigation of pockets of violence to create a sense of disunity in the party and insecurity in the State as a whole, emonization of his person and administration through “a well-oiled smear campaign in the media that will evoke
memory of the immediate past” and the distraction of the attention of the government from governance.

Others are blackmailing him and the national leadership of the party, generally making the State ungovernable, perpetrating further crisis that will enable the group move motions in the two chambers of the National Assembly to embarrass the State government, disruption of the impending party membership registration and “joining forces with the opposition who are known Masters of Violence in an unholy alliance tohelp re-enact the immediate inglorious past.

The letter further read in parts, “the overall thrust is to force a negotiation to secure an undeserved advantage that could not be otherwise achieved through the internal party democracy. What is more disturbing is that in this venture, no tool is considered too crude to use, no weapon too unconventional to deploy, and no approach too
demeaning to adopt. I learnt that you and your colleagues have indeed been boasting that the nationwide destruction of our party, the APC, will be kick-started from Ogun State”.

While giving assurance that he remains resolute to building bridges within the party and even beyond, Amosun said, “this is far from being a sign of weakness, this is demonstration of our commitment to general peace and security in the State.

“While I will continue to make overtures for peace and pursue initiatives to forge party unity and harmony, I will not abdicate my responsibilities as Chief Security Officer of the State”, he stressed.