An international educational administrator and prominent indigene of Oke-Ogun in Oyo State, Professor ‘Dibu Ojerinde has appealed for cautions among leaders and members of the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress over reported protests coming from the camp of an aggrieved group against the recent nomination of Senator Abiola Ajimobi as Deputy National Chairman (South) of the party.
Ojerinde’s call came in the wake of recent media reports which revealed the opposition of some aggrieved Oyo APC chieftains and leaders to the nomination of the former governor to succeed Chief Adeniyi Adebayo from Ekiti state (now the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment) in that party leadership capacity. Notable figures reported to be opposed to Ajimobi’s nomination are former deputy governor, Chief Moses Adeyemo, Alhaji Akin Olajide (former SSG in Ajimobi government), Sen. Adesoji Akanbi, Alh. Fatai Ibikunle among others.
In a statement he personally issued today from his Igboho country home and made available to journalists in Ibadan, Prof. Ojerinde described protests against Sen. Ajimobi’s recommendation for the top party leadership job as unnecessary and ill-conceived “in view of the fact that the idea was a brainchild of eminent APC stakeholders from virtually all the five other south western states as a matter of political exigency.
“The former governor may have inevitably offended some of these people while in office and I understand this was also responsible for the crisis which engulfed Oyo APC in 2018 as it was allowed to drag until the party lost the governorship seat to the PDP in 2019 general election. But these same elders and leaders should find a way of resolving this among themselves once and for all in the interest of their teeming members and the state.
“A situation whereby they allowed such grievances to cost them the coveted governorship seat must not continue in the interest of the party and the society at large. This has always been my position as a leader of thought in the state. I expressed the same opinion yesterday when I had a cause to visit one of these aggrieved leaders in Igboho and again, I am using this medium to appeal to other concerned individuals or groups to bury all the hatchets permanently.
“In the opinion of many political watchers, the seemingly intractable crisis within Oyo APC is inimical to the progress of the state simply because the party can boast of many quality hands who are capable of adding value to the state and Nigeria as a country if afforded the opportunity to work together as a team and not as warring entities.
“My own sincere appeal is to every stakeholder within the party to work towards finding a lasting solution to the internal wrangling and guide against anything capable of causing schism among them again as all hands must be on deck to restore the full confidence of the voting public on the progressive party which was still able to have a comfortable majority in the population of National Assembly members from the state despite all odds in 2019”, the Professor Emeritus of Tests and Measurement stated.
