Political implications of Omisore, Aregbesola’s meeting at Oke-Maria

*Photo:L-R: Otunba Iyiola Omisore,Senator Babajide Omoworare and Governor Rauf Aregbesola at annual Oke-Maria pilgrimage held at Otan-Ayegbaju in Boluwaduro Local Government Area of Osun State.

The rate at which political activities in the state of the living spring, Osun State, gather momentum in recent time is quite unprecedented. This may not be unconnected with the recent announcement of election timetable by the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2015 general elections and this year’s governorship elections in Osun and Ekiti States.
It is expected that when elections are drawing nearer, the political tempo is always high as all political parties would want to attract more members to their fold and sell their political ideologies to the electorate.
In Osun State, the governorship election, according to INEC umpire, would hold on August 9 this year while the election would be held two months earlier in Ekiti State.
While the incumbent governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is seeking re-election, the major opposition party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), insists that Aregbesola’s government must be sacked from power at all cost during election. Both parties are working strategically to achieve their political goal. As Aregbesola was going round the major cities in the state to ask the people for second term, the political machinery was also put in place by PDP to ensure its own candidate wins the election.
Three PDP governorship aspirants have signified their interest to contest the election. They are former deputy governor of the state, Senator Iyiola Omisore, former Minister for Youths Development, Olasunkanmi Akinlabi and former member of House of Representatives, Oluwole Oke.
In his effort to realise his political ambition, Senator Omisore, at the weekend declared his intention to run for the governorship election before the mammoth crowd that graced the Freedom Park, the venue of the event.
Daily Newswatch gathered that though two other PDP governorship aspirants had earlier declared their intentions, it was learnt that the crowd that attended Omisore’s declaration was not only impressive but intimidating.
Omisore had in his speech accused the Aregbesola-led administration of financial impropriety, adding that the debt profile of the state in the last three and half years has risen astronomically.
He emphasised that his march to Abere Government House has remained unstoppable, as he highlighted his eight-point agenda and decried what he termed the pauperisation of Osun people through alleged “inhuman taxes, demolition of markets without alternatives, destruction of the state education heritage, the creation of religious crisis in an otherwise harmonious state.”
Omisore, who was the former Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, promised to restore the dignity of education, focus on agriculture and rural development, among others.
Omisore said: “I am here offering myself for service. I am here to right the wrongs and set our state on sustainable paths. The APC government is destroying the property of people. The people of OsunState did not vote for Aregbesola but he got to the power through judicial fraud.
“We have petitioned the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega to re-deploy the State Resident Electoral Commissioner because we believe he cannot conduct a free and fair election.
“It is high time we sent the APC administration out of power because their government is alien to us in the state and we cannot allow this maladministration to continue.”
The state chairman of PDP, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa, also alleged that Osun debt profile was N623b, adding that nothing has been working in the state since Aregbesola took over the power in 2010.
However, less than ten hours after Omisore declared his intention for governorship election, the political activities in the state took another twist as both Aregbesola and Omisore met at an annual Oke-Maria pilgrimage held at Otan-Ayegbaju in Boluwaduro Local Government Area of the state.
The duo alongside with a member of the Senate representing Osun East senatorial District, Babajide Omoworare, sat in the front row of the church listening to the sermon from the presiding priest.
Omoworare, a Catholic faithful, arrived at the church at about 10.05pm, in company of his wife, Bisi while Senator Omisore, who is also a Catholic faithful got to the venue at about 1.45am on Sunday and the duo embraced each other despite that they were from different political parties.
Ogbeni Aregbesola arrived at the venue during the healing service conducted by Reverend Father John Popoola at the peak of the event and joined Omisore and Omoworare on the seat.
At about 3.45am on Sunday, the Archbishop Leke Abegunrin welcomed the trio to the pilgrimage and invited the governor to the podium to extend compliments to the about 50, 000 pilgrims, Catholics and non-Catholics from all states of the South West.
In his speech, Aregbesola, a devout Muslim, thanked the Bishop and shared a 10-minute sermon with the congregation, taking his sermon from a chapter of the First Book of Corinthians.
The governor emphasised that what God demanded mostly from his people according to the scripture are love, hope and faith, stressing that the most important one among them is love.
“I urge you to embrace love. This is what God wants from all of us, irrespective of your religion. Love one another. Put your political or religious sentiments apart and embrace love. Share your feelings, thoughts, ideas and opinions with one another and pray for yourselves. Embrace religious tolerance. This can only be done when we recognise the power of love in our lives.
“Without love, our prayers cannot be answered. Let us eschew bitterness and pray for ourselves, our homes, local government, Nigeria and the world at large,” Aregbesola said.
The governor, however, assured the Catholic community of a Health Centre at the Oke-Maria Shrine.
Also speaking at the pilgrimage, Senator Omisore who enjoined the faithful to cast their faith to Christ, promised rehabilitation of the Marian Grotto.
He added while speaking with journalists at the Shrine that he would ensure that schools are returned to their original owners in the state if he is elected as the governor of the state during the next governorship election.
He, however, berated the spate of lawless in secondary schools in the state where he said that students no longer face their studies as a result of imposition of policies alien to the students.
Omisore added: “If I am elected as the governor of the state, I will first of all return schools to their original owners, except they don’t want it. School uniforms would be used by each school as a symbol of identity. I attended St. John’s Catholic Grammar School and I know what I gained in the mission school. I will encourage freedom of religion in the schools and schools would be operated in line with the policies of their original owners, without imposition of obnoxious policies on the students.
“Above all, I enjoin Osun people to maintain peace and order and continue to pray for the state.”
Speaking with journalists at the prayer ground, Senator Omoworare described Omisore as his brother both in the church and home, adding that the former deputy governor was not his political opponent but political gladiator.
He said: “Omisore is my brother both in the church and at home. Both of us are Catholics. We attended the same secondary school together at St. John’s Grammar School, Ile-Ife. We are from Ife. He is not my political opponent, but we are gladiators. The only different there is that we have different political philosophies.
“The Senator and I are brothers in Christ. We share the same flesh and blood of Christ. We are here to pray for our different intentions.
The Prelate of the church, Archbishop Leke Abegunrin, however, prayed for the trio and urged other politicians in the state to borrow a leaf from the peaceful worship of the three politicians who saw themselves as one under the same umbrella of God.
Archbishop Abegunrin had earlier announced the likely attendance of the Omisore and Aregbesola around 10.00pm on Saturday night, urging devotees at the Marian Shrine to shelve their political differences and embrace the governorship standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and PDP’s Senator Iyiola Omisore, as he said that they would come to the Marian Shrine to pray over their different intentions to God with the hope that Mary the mother of Christ would intercede for them.
But the meeting of Ogbeni Aregbesola and Senator Omisore at Marian shrine on the day the latter declared his governorship ambition has generated a lot of speculations among people, especially the political watchers and players. Besides, some schools of thought believe that Senator Omisore’s promise to return schools to the owners if he is elected as the governor of the state and his insistence that school uniforms would be used by each school as a symbol of identity, was a calculated attempt to send a warning signal to Ogbeni Aregbesola that his days in Abere State Secretariat were numbered.
Others opine that Ogbeni’s re-classification of primary and secondary schools which has caused some form of chaos in many schools within the state would draw attention of some segments of the electorate to the PDP in the next election.