The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Lasun Yusuf, has said none of the 48 political parties contesting the September 22 governorship election in Osun State is guaranteed of winning the poll.
Yusuf, who was one of the 17 governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress that contested the primary of the party in Osun State, said this while addressing journalists in Osogbo on Saturday.
The deputy speaker said nobody had reached out to him since after the primary, which some of the aspirants criticised and claimed was manipulated in favour of the eventual winner, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola.
He said despite this, he was not planning to defect from the ruling party while promising to work for the success of the party.
Yusuf said, “We are in the position to support the APC and it is not about the candidate of the party. I thank all my supporters who stood by me despite the persecution during and after the primary. We would do our best to ensure that APC wins the coming election in this state.
“Nigerians should be aware that a lot of party chieftains are being alienated today. I’m not guaranteeing any party. But, we hope that party members will put what happened in the primary behind and work for the victory of the party.”
He lamented that many of the party chieftains and members being neglected now were grass roots politicians who the party needed to mobilise the electorate to vote for the party. He, however, said it would be difficult to get all of them to work for the party with the way they were being treated.
Asked why he had not officially congratulated the party’s gubernatorial candidate, Oyetola, the deputy speaker said it was not compulsory for him to congratulate the winner and also lamented that the party did not also congratulate him when he emerged the deputy speaker.
He said, “I’m not in the position to congratulate anybody. When I became the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, nobody in the party or government circle congratulated me.
“And till today, nobody has told me what my offence was except that some people said I went against the party’s position. But for me, what they were referring to as the party’s position was actually the position of few leaders of the party.”
Source: Punch
