Governors Kashim Shettima of Borno, Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos and other members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) national peace and reconciliation committee for the Southwest were in Ibadan, Oyo State on Tuesday.
They met with some leaders of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Osun State led by Senator Iyiola Omisore as part of the committee’s engagements with strategic allies of the party and aggrieved APC members across the six States of the southwest.
The committee’s visit was for an interactive hearing with APC members from Osun and Oyo states.
Governor Shettima chairs the committee with Governor Nasiru El-Rufai as Vice chairman while Governor Ambode, former deputy governor of Ekiti State, Professor Modupe Adelabu, the D-G of NIMASA, Dr Dakuku Peterside and Barrister Sa’ida Sa’ad Bugaje serve as members.
The committee had last week held a consultative meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in his capacity as the most senior public office holder from the southwest.
On Tuesday, the committee was in Ado-Ekiti in Ekiti State where it met with aggrieved members of the APC from Ondo and Ekiti States.
In Ibadan on Tuesday, the committee held a crucial engagement meeting with Senator Iyiola Omisore and three others on issues relating to the politics in Osun.
The meeting, which was behind closed door, was on the invitation of the committee.
The committee is also expected to meet with deputy speaker of the house of representatives, Yusuph Lasun also from Osun as well as minister of communication, Adebayo Shittu from Oyo.
The committee received in all, six aggrieved members, three from Oyo and three from Osun with no written petition submitted.
“We have received the least number of aggrieved members here in Ibadan from both Oyo and Osun States. This bears testimony to the fact of Governors of Oyo and Osun have made significant reconciliation efforts.
“We were told of how the Governor of Oyo in particular, invited, hosted and met with all 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.
In his remarks, Governor Ambode, who corroborated an earlier reference of him by Shettima, called on aggrieved members to borrow from him in helping to build peace in the interest of the APC ahead of the 2019 general elections.
“We should all recognize that when there is life, there is always a hope for a better future. You can’t win all the time in politics but 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,” he said.
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