‘Ilaka is a serial loser, has no political value’ – Abioye berates Oyo’s ex CoS

Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Ogo Oluwa/Surulere Federal Constituency in the 2019 general elections, Hon. Abioye Mathew Adegboyega has faulted the claim by the immediate past Chief of Staff to Oyo State Governor, Chief Luqman Oyebisi Ilaka that he lost his senatorial election to Senator Teslim Folarin by virtue of the influence of APC candidates in Ogo Oluwa/Surulere and Egbeda/Ona Ara Federal constituencies that pushed up the votes for the winner of the said Senatorial election.

Abioye, punctured the claim in his reaction to the statement made by Chief Ilaka while featuring on Fresh FM political circuit programme yesterday on his preparation to re-contest for the Oyo Central Senatorial election in 2023.

The PDP chieftain noted that what Ilaka was trying to prove was that candidates for the PDP in the said two federal constituencies were not popular and that their unpopularity was what affected his own election.

Abioye, in a statement made available to Mega Icon Magazine on Sunday said contrary to his assertion on the said radio programme, the ex-Chief of Staff  was the architect of his own failure  because he was never on ground to meet the electorates and canvass for their votes during the campaigns.

According to him, “I want to challenge Ilaka to come out and tell the public how many times he visited the Ogo Oluwa/Surulere Federal Constituency to meet our people and canvass them to give him their votes. Similarly, he should come out and tell the people the amount he spent before and during the said election.

“Ilaka was never on ground to canvass the people’s vote throughout the electioneering campaign at all. Now he was trying to attribute his failure to the popularity of candidates of opposition party but I am not surprised that he’s doing so. He was doing so because of the fact that they are already in talk with Hon. Dokun Odebunmi (Bunvic) to woo him to join the PDP with the aim that if Bunvic joins the PDP, it will help him to realize his ambition come 2023.

“But, I’m absolutely not perturbed by his permutation and what he said. Ilaka is a serial failure. He has tried three times in 2011, 2015 and 2019 and has failed. If you present yourself for an election first, second and third time and lost, what new things do you intend to bring?

“He is somebody who has no leadership quality and it is even worse for him now because the governor had given him platform by making him his Chief of Staff, an opportunity which he should have used to demonstrate his administrative capability and efficiency but he has failed. He has never added any political value to the people in the Senatorial district he is aspiring to represent”, the ex-lawmaker added.

On why he lost his own House of Representatives election, Hon. Abioye disclosed that the people in his constituency gave him a protest vote to express their displeasure over his support for Engr Seyi Makinde against their kinsman, Senator Ayo Adeseun during the party gubernatorial primary election between the duo in 2018.

“I lost the election because my people accused me of abandoning my own kinsman, Senator Ayo Adeseun for somebody they termed as a stranger, Engr Seyi Makinde, during the PDP gubernatorial election which was held at Liberty stadium in 2018. They were not happy that I gave all the 129 delegates from my federal constituency to Engr Makinde but they didn’t understand the reason why I supported him then.

“It is very disheartening that all the people that worked against the PDP in 2019 are now the friends of the present administration. They are the ones that are reaping bountifully where they did not sow at the expense of we that laboured for it.

“The fact that I was not compensated by the government we laboured for is now a blessing for me because it has made me more wiser and more experienced. I am an active politician, grassroot mobilizer with a track record and experience having served as a two term lawmaker in the Oyo State House of Assembly. Can such experience be ruled out”, the statement continued.