Osun Bye-election: APC can learn from its defeat – Minister

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, said though the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost Saturday’s Senatorial bye-election in Osun, it could learn from the defeat.

The minister, a chieftain of the APC, stated this while speaking with newsmen shortly after a closed-door meeting with the party`s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun on Monday in Abuja.

The APC lost the bye-election to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose candidate, Alhaji Nurudeen Adeleke, is younger brother of the late Isiaka Adeleke, the senator who represented the district until his death on April 23.

Senator Mudasiru Hussain was APC’s candidate. He polled 66,116 votes as against 97,480 votes scored by the Adeleke.

“You learn from everything; very often you can learn from a defeat, even more than you can learn from victory.

“I think there are good lessons we can learn from that, going forward, in terms of organising and staying together within a particular state and avoiding situations where individuals become too paramount.

“As a party, we have to work together; it’s not about individuals but about the party,’’ he said.

The minister said that he particularly discussed the crisis in Enugu State chapter of the party and how the situation could be managed before it would get out of hand.

He stated that as the highest political office holder in the state, it was his responsibility to ensure that the crisis did not escalate.

He also said that it was his responsibility to ensure that everybody worked toward the development of the state, while supporting the programmes of the APC-led Federal Government.