Southwest APC: Shettima, Ambode meet Omisore at Ibadan parley

Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Peace and Reconciliation Committee for the Southwest met yesterday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, with a Social Democratic Party (SDP) group from Osun State, led by its 2018 governorship candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore.

The chairman of the committee and Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima was accompanied by his Kaduna and Lagos State counterparts, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai (Vice Chairman) and Akinwunmi Ambode, as well as other members of the committee.

The meeting was part of the committee’s engagements with strategic allies of the party and aggrieved APC members in the six states of the Southwest.

The committee was in Ibadan for interactive hearing with APC members from Osun and Oyo states.

Other members are: Ambode, former Ekiti Deputy Governor Prof Modupe Adelabu, the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside and Sa’ida Sa’ad Bugaje.

Last week, the committee held a consultative meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in his capacity as the most senior public office holder in the Southwest.

The committee was in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, 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 Omisore and three others who accompanied him on issues relating to the politics of Osun State.

The meeting, which held behind closed-doors, was on the invitation of the committee, which is expected to meet with House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Yusuph Lasun, also from Osun, as well as the Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, from Oyo.

The committee received six aggrieved members, comprising three from Oyo and three from Osun, without a written petition submitted to it.

Shettima and his members were excited about the development.

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“We have received the least number of aggrieved members here in Ibadan, from Oyo and Osun states. This bears testimony to the fact that Oyo and Osun governors have made significant reconciliation efforts. We were told of how Oyo State Governor, in particular, invited, hosted and met with 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,” Shettima said.

Ambode urged aggrieved members to borrow from him by helping to build peace in the interest of the APC ahead of next year’s general elections.

He said: “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. So, we should put our fate in God that the future will be bright. We should work together for our party, no matter the extent of our bitterness.”