The outgoing Caretaker Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo state, Chief Akin Oke, has cautioned former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala against divisive tendencies capable of further polarising the party in the state
Oke, also alleged that the former governor has finally unmasked himself as the brain behind the plot to cause schism in the party, describing Akala’s action as “very disappointing”.
He assured that the party would emerge stronger from the current crisis characterising the emergence of the new set of State Executive Committee members.
Speaking to a section of the media at the State Secretariat of the party in Oke-Ado, Ibadan, on Friday, after the meeting of party leaders held in compliance with a directive from the APC’s national secretariat, Chief Oke played down the possibility of Oyo APC going into war with itself ahead of the 2023 general election.
The outgoing chairman said, “At the peace meeting which we attended at the national secretariat of our Party last week, we were directed to come back home and sort things out. The national secretary, Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe, mandated us to ask the zonal leaders to revalidate the initial harmonized list to reflect the input of all tendencies. More than 40 critical stakeholders were at the Abuja meeting and the Secretary was very apt in his address.
“The zonal leaders swung into action immediately and they communicated their efforts to me through phone conversations. I must reveal that the national secretariat had a telephone conference with Chief Alao-Akala and myself on Wednesday during which the peace template was re-established. I later engaged the former governor on a private phone conversation and we both agreed to a physical meeting on Friday (today) with the zonal leaders to review what they might have done in their respective zones.
“But to my surprise, Chief Alao-Akala issued a statement the same day where he announced that the meeting for the ratification of harmonized lists drawn from all the seven zones would take place in his private residence and invited unauthorized persons in clear negation of the directive we got from Abuja. The question to ask here is; when did the APC become the property of an individual? It seems the former governor mistakes the ‘A’ in the acronym of our party for either Alao or Akala.
“Nevertheless, he remains my brother and a critical stakeholder in our Party unless he is trying to say otherwise. Nine out of the eleven members of the Harmonization Committee came to the Party Secretariat today (Friday) to do the needful and they all signed the documents generated. At this juncture, I must state that my brother (Bayo Akala) should learn to leave above board and stop polarising the Progressive family. I understand he has finally unmasked himself as the brain behind the plot to cause schism in our party and I find this very disappointing”, he alleged.
Oke continued, “If he thinks the best thing to do at a time like this is to make himself the godfather of one out of about 15 governorship aspirants, I wish him well. Meanwhile, It is very disappointing that he could employ funny tactics to aid those whose only wish is to hijack the party for their own selfish ambitions but I can assure the whole world that the committed Progressives would not watch and allow them destroy their heritage.
“What they did at Alao-Akala’s residence today was just to further manifest their undemocratic traits. They brought the same Lawan Gambo and his friends as Appeal Committee members today and we have confirmed that the national Secretariat did not send them to the state for any assignment. Just last week, Gambo was put to shame in the open when it was established that the delegate list he brought to us the last time was fake. In the end, justice will prevail and all the anti-democratic forces in our Party will be exposed.
“As a matter of fact, we are in regular contact with the national secretariat of our party and we have been asked to bring the authentic harmonized list of state Executive Committee which would reflect the true wish of the generality of party membership. To this end, I urge genuine party faithful and the general public to remain calm as everything will be alright in no time”, the Oyo APC chairman reassured.
