A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo state, Chief Adeniyi Akintola has revealed how he ceded the 2011 governorship slot to the late former governor of the state, Sen. Abiola Ajimobi.
Chief Akintola disclosed that he would have been the governor before late Ajimobi, when the National Leader of the Party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu offered him the ticket on a platter of gold.
He added that the former governor of Lagos state, Tinubu told him to start preparing for the Oyo governorship seat during the commissioning of a N72 Million Baptist Cottage Hospital in Omi-Adio, a suburb of Ibadan, financed by him in 2010.
According to him, “I ceded the governorship slot to the late former Governor Abiola Ajimobi.
“I took my egbon, (Uncle Abiola Ajimobi) to Senator Bola Tinubu. I would have been the governor before Uncle Ajimobi when Senator Tinubu told me to start preparing for the Oyo governorship seat.
“But I told him (Tinubu) that I have a senior brother (Ajimobi) and that he should be given the opportunity. I would have stolen the show but I rather said the ticket should be given to Uncle Ajimobi. I did that on the ground of being an Omoluabi”, Akintola submitted.
Late Ajimobi was the only governor that broke the second term jinx in Oyo state. He occupied the Agodi Government House between 2011-2019.
The legal luminary made these revelations on Tuesday while featuring on a Media Breakfast Chat organized by the Southwest Group of Online Publishers (SWEGOP) in Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital.
Contrary to his earlier decision in 2018 when he announced his withdrawal from partisan politics after the APC governorship primaries held at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba, the former Deputy Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly has also confirmed that he will be contesting for the apex seat in the state.
He expressed confidence that his contributions, background and political antecedents will secure the ticket for him in 2023.
The APC chieftain said, “No people are the same, we all came from different backgrounds, my contributions and background, and political antecedent will secure the ticket for me.
“I have paid my dues and I’m suitably qualified to be the next governor of the state.
“In 2019, I felt that same sense of betrayal the Late Uncle Bola Ige felt when Chief Olu Falae was adopted as the Presidential Candidate in the 1999 elections.
“I felt it was an apostasy for the APC to have given the governorship ticket to somebody who only joined the party in April and became its candidate in August.
“I cannot be clapping for such an apostasy. Where is the principle of Omoluwabi? Some people seek to be governor, with just being from Ibadan as their qualification. But I have paid my dues”, Akintola continued.
