The lawmaker representing Ogbomoso North, Ogbomoso South, Oriire federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Olusegun Ogunwuyi has disclosed why it took him long time to join his leader, former governor Adebayo Alao-Akala in the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Both Alao-Akala and Ogunwuyi, who was a member of the Oyo State House of Assembly, contested the 2015 governorship and national assembly elections respectively under the Labour Party, LP.
The former had joined the APC long ago before the latter announced his defection to the ruling party last Thursday.
Speaking with insideoyo.com and other other select journalists in his Ogbomoso home over the weekend, Ogunwuyi explained that “as you know, there is time for everything. I was elected on the platform of Labour Party, and we have laws and rules that guide our conduct as representatives of the people under a political party. No matter the political terrain, you can’t just jump ship. So I stayed back in Labour party because I believe that is the party that sponsored my election, but unfortunately the party was and is crisis-ridden as there are two people laying claim to the chairmanship and all sorts. Politics is about the people; the same people that said we should remain in Labour Party are the ones that said it is high time we moved out of the party and join the APC where our leader, Otunba Akala has already gone ahead. So, not moving initially was not political, it is about obeying the law, it is about doing things in a proper and right way.”
Reacting to insinuations that he stayed longer in LP as a result of crisis between him and Alao-Akala, he noted that “in politics, there are people who will always insinuate, I don’t have an issue with Oga, there is no crisis or fight or whatever between us. How can I fight someone who is my Oga and father in politics? So, me not moving when he moved was not as a result of any crisis. Personally, I don’t have any issue and I don’t believe we’ll have any issue; I am in APC just like his Excellency, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala and I believe that within APC, I will work with him, work with other stakeholders; I will work with His Excellency, Governor Abiola Ajimobi and I am very sure we are going to deliver the state and all local government by God’s grace for APC in 2019.”
Asked if his new party, APC, is immuned to crisis, he said that there is no political party without some internal crisis, adding that “politics is about crisis management but the beauty of it is the ability of a party to resolve its crisis, it is very important. As of today, APC is still the most stable party in Nigeria whether we like it or not. And thank God for the likes of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; he has been saddled with the responsibility of going round for reconciliation. Yes it is not an easy task but I believe God will endow him with the strength to be able to resolve the crisis. Let’s look at the PDP, they are crisis ridden. Even in Labour Party where I was the only House of Representatives’ member, two people are still laying claims to the leadership of the party. So, as far I am concerned, APC is not immuned but they have a working mechanism to be able to distill and resolve their internal crisis and stabilize the party.”
Speaking on his relationship with his APC colleagues in the House, he answered: ”We are all brothers, remember that when we did the last election in 2015, we have 12 APC members, one PDP member and one Labour party member. We don’t relate with one another base on political lines, we see ourselves as people from Oyo State; we see ourselves as people that should work together to take Oyo state to the next height so currently we have 14/14; all the Reps members from Oyo State are under the APC banner so we have a good working relationship.”
