The immediate past Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola has renewed his allegiance and commitment to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State.
Aregbesola noted that political parties are amalgamation of different interests and tendencies while addressing supporters during the launch of Omoluabi Caucus of the APC in Ilesa, on Tuesday.
Describing the newly formed Omoluabi Caucus as one of the many caucuses in the state, the former governor of Osun explained that the caucus is not a faction of the party, but a union of like-minds in the state.
He said, “The Omoluabi Tendency is a caucus within the All Progressives Congress (APC); actually one of the caucuses in the state. We are not a faction. We are the genuine foundation members of the party and we have no intention of abandoning the ship of the party as it navigates the most turbulent waters.
“We are no sprinters, but long-distance runners and we will still be standing when all the fair-weathers have gone.”
The ex-minister also stated that the launch of the Omoluabi Caucus is to renew their path in progressive politics as inherited from Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Bola Ige, amongst other progressives who epitomise the Omoluabi ethos, noting that the loss of the party in the state can be traced to the departure from these progressive ideals, but revealing that it will bounce back to its winning ways.
“What we have come to do here today is to renew our commitment to the path of progressive ideology and politics as inherited from our great past heroes, beginning from Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Abraham Adesanya, Chief Bola Ige and others in the pantheon of progressive politics too numerous to mention.
“Emerging from the ashes of the near annihilation of our party in the governorship election of 2022 and the general election earlier this year, we should rise up and renew our strength and reclaim our place in the political firmament in Osun.
“We have been at this juncture before, after the 2003 election in which our party lost the stakes and was at its nadir in the state. At that point, like-minded progressives under the banner of Oranmiyan emerged to begin a movement that mobilised our members and the people of the state into a veritable electoral machine that won the 2007 governorship election which ushered an epoch making two term administration in the state and handed over to a successor from our party,” he stated.
Aregbesola further charged the members of the caucus to uphold the Omoluabi ethos in Yoruba belief system and make conscious effort to revive and promote it among the generality of the people of the state.
After the formal launch of the caucus, the group adopted its charter which includes; Progressivism, Omoluabi Ethos, Discipline, Competence and Inclusivity as its core values.
Members of the caucus are drawn from each ward of the 332 wards in the state and were represented by five members each from each of the local governments in the state.
