The outgoing Caretaker Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Chief Akin Oke, has given assurance that the party would emerge stronger from the current crisis characterising the emergence of new set of State Executive Committee members in the state.
Chief Oke told reporters, on Friday, that the Oyo APC will not go to war with itself ahead of the 2023 general election, shortly after a meeting of party leaders, in compliance with a directive from the party’s National Secretariat, held at the APC State Secretariat, Oke-Ado, Ibadan.
Oke noted: “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 harmonised 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.”
He said the zonal leaders swung into action immediately and communicated their efforts to him through telephone conversations, saying the National Secretariat had a telephone conference with him and Chief Alao-Akala, on Wednesday, during which the peace template was re-established.
He said he and Akala thereafter agreed to a physical meeting on Friday with the zonal leaders to review what they might have done in their respective zones.
Oke said: “But to my surprise, Chief Alao-Akala issued a statement the same day where he announced that the meeting for the ratification of harmonised 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,” he stated.
He, however, affirmed that Akala remained his brother and a critical stakeholder in APC, unless he was trying to say otherwise, disclosing that nine out of the eleven members of the Harmonization Committee were at the party Secretariat on Friday to do the needful and they all signed the documents generated.
Funny Tactics
Oke admonished Akala not to think the best thing to do presently is to make himself the godfather of one out of about 15 governorship aspirants, as he is disappointed that Akala could employ funny tactics to aid those who want to hijack the party for their own selfish ambitions, assuring that the committed progressives would not watch and allow their heritage be destroyed.
“What they did at Alao-Akala’s residence today (Friday) 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,” he argued.
Oke asserted that his group was in regular contact with the National Secretariat of the party and had been asked to bring the authentic harmonised list of the State Executive Committee which would reflect the true wish of the generality of party membership and urged genuine party faithful and the general public to remain calm as the problem would be resolved in no time.
Lateefah Ibrahim
