A former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Lasun Yusuff, has said Senator Ovie Omo-Agege was made the Deputy Senate President as a compensation for the role he played in the disputed All Progressives Congress 2018 governorship primary in Osun State.
He said Omo-Agege was used to edge him out to pave the way for the emergence of Gboyega Oyetola as the party’s candidate for the election which Yusuff insisted the APC lost but was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Yusuff said this while speaking to reporters at the APC National Secretariat, Abuja, on Thursday.
He said, “Let me tell you all these: The former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, was the chairman of that primary election committee. On the day of the primary, Yari did not come to Osun.
“That’s left to you journalists to find out why he did not come but let me give you a glimpse; the man knew I was popular but he was instructed to go and do a particular thing but he told them that he had run an investigation and discovered that the deputy speaker was too popular. That’s why Yari did not come to Osun during the APC primary election in 2018.
“The job was undertaken by the current Deputy Senate President. He became the chairman of the committee overnight, and I want to say, if he likes he can controvert this, that one of the reasons Omo-Agege is the Deputy Senate President today was that he was compensated for that job.”
Yusuff noted that his peaceful disposition prevented him from going to court. According to him, if he had taken the option of going to court, what happened in Zamfara State where the party lost all the seats won after the elections would have been repeated in Osun.
He, however, said, this time around, he was prepared to go the whole hog, noting that “nobody born of a woman” can stop him from contesting.
When contacted, the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Deputy Senate President, Yomi Odunuga, said, “The former Deputy Speaker is entitled to his opinion on what transpired. The office of the Deputy Senate President will not join issues with him.”
Copyright PUNCH.
