BAYO AGBOOLA writes that uncertainty still surrounds the outcome of the Oyo APC state congress with stakeholders divided on whether it should stand or not
Stakeholders battle from Abuja to Ibadan
The past few days, particularly, after the Oyo state congress of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on October 30th, at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Ibadan in Oyo state, have not been the best of times for the party as stakeholders and gladiators are deeply engaged in supremacy war over whether the outcome of state congress should stay or not.
The battle has vacillated from Ibadan to Abuja and Abuja back to Ibadan with the APC national secretariat having meetings after meetings with the concerned stakeholders.
Last Wednesday, the parties in the crisis were mandated in Abuja to go back home and sort things out themselves within a week.
Abuja peace moves
According to the caretaker committee chairman of Oyo APC, Chief Akin Oke, “the meetings reviewed the list of nominees for the state executive committee offices according to the zoning principles to the seven administrative units of the state.
Oke further disclosed, “We were directed to verify nominations by the zonal leaders that submitted the list. This is to be done with former governor of Oyo state, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, the two former deputy governors, Chief Iyiola Oladokun and Otunba Moses Alake Adeyemo, the seven zonal leaders and myself.
According to the directive, “the approved list is to be submitted to the national secretariat of the party through me within a week”.
Chairman state congress committee insists on results
“While the Chairman of the APC state congress committee, Hon Gambo Lawan on his part insisted that the outcome of the congress but only for harmonisation as it “is now a matter of give and take, where harmonisation will take place.”
He said the meeting was just for reconciliation or harmonisation, nothing like fresh congress, saying that APC is one big family and will continue to be.
“What was discussed is how all the groups, leaders and other stakeholders, would work together to depose the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.”
Buni’s intervention
Oke further noted, “The Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee Chairman, Governor Mai Buni, only called this meeting to iron out all the issues. Nothing like new congress. The Saturday 30th congress stays, it was monitored by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other relevant agencies. This is family affairs and the process of amicable resolution has commenced”.
How agitations started
However, as the Saturday October 30 congress was going on, some of the party gladiators under the auspices of Oyo APC stakeholders including Chief Adebayo Adelabu; Prof Adeolu Akande, Mogaji Tegbe, Dr Abdul Azeez Adeduntan, Hon Tolu Akande-Sadipe; Minister for Sports, Sunday Dare; Mogaji Joseph Tegbe, former ALGON Chair, Abass Aleshinloye, among others, stormed Premier Hotel in Ibadan to make public their grievances and decision not to be part in the congress.
Through the spokesperson, Senator Ayo Adeseun, they had demanded for the immediate suspension of the congress as a result of what they called alleged “forgery of wards and delegates lists” by some elements in the party “for their selfish reasons”.
They also claimed that the delegates lists was allegedly manipulated despite what was sent to Abuja by the state APC executives after the legitimate ward and local government congresses held in Oyo state.
According to Senator Adeseun, the list sent from Abuja for the state congress was in complete variance from what was sent from the state and that “there is a limit to what the party membership could condone.
“We received information that the list sent in from Abuja had been allegedly tampered with by a both serving senator and a former governor of the state (names withheld).
“In order to safeguard the integrity of the process, we appeal to our National Chairman to suspend the state congress until all of this is sorted out. We appeal to our National Excos to suspend this process. Oyo is a sensitive state.
“The national congress could be attended by the statutory list of delegates from the state. Oyo APC is ready to take over only if we are sincere with our hard earned democracy. The so-called state congress has been postponed. We have committed too much to the party, for anyone to make a fool of us.
“We were all prepared for the state congress until yesterday (Friday) morning when the panel from Abuja came. We have been clamouring for the list of delegates. Some of us went to Abuja to say we couldn’t have a congress when we didn’t have delegate list.
“They promised they would do something about it and the list now came yesterday (Friday) and when we opened it, we saw it was just ‘contraband’. We are very confident that top leadership of the party are probably not aware of what some people did around their offices. When we put this out and let the world see, we are confident that they would correct the anomalies.
Allegation of falsified delegates’ list
“Some dubious people have inserted fake delegates into the list brought from Abuja. Normally, when you write an examination, you need to get results to know if you pass or fail. We did the first congress, we did not get its result. We held the second one, with no result. They kept them all. They brought them all together to us yesterday (Friday) for us to hold the state congress.
“The delegates list brought on Friday was fake and falsified; false names were observed on the list. It is not possible to use the falsified list for the state congress. In this state congress, we have agreed to go for consensus, but some elements in the party falsified the delegates list.”
Senator Adeseun added, ” if they use the falsified delegates’ list to hijack the party structure, can they use the same approach to win in the general elections? Two people are behind this falsified, adulterated, and fake delegates’ list. One serving senator and a former governor of the state. Party members and leaders in Oyo state are vehemently kicking against using such delegates’ list to conduct the state congress.
“We are using this medium to appeal to the national leadership of our party to intervene. The suffering in Oyo state is too much. We don’t want to suffer again. The only solution to this is to allow our party to conduct the election and win. Our party was in government for eight years and brought unprecedented development to the state.
How similar crisis ceded victory to PDP
“In 2018, there was a crisis in our party, and it was polarised, that polarisation led to the victory of the ruling party in Oyo State. We now came together and decided to elect our party officers transparently, but the former governor and the serving senator don’t want it that way.It is not possible to hold today’s congress if we don’t get the legitimate and authentic list, that is transparently compiled,” he said.
How protester moved to stop congress
Amidst the drama over whether the state congress would hold or not , some elements suspected to be hoodlums reportedly stormed the hotel where the chairman of the state congress committee lodged, blocked the entrances to prevent him from heading to the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium venue of the congress to prevent him from overseeing the congress.
The congres committee chairman himself attributed the siege on his hotel to the antics of the ‘miscreants and hoodlums’ that besieged the hotel shooting sporadically into the air and that it was the security agencies that prevented the miscreants from gaining entry into the hotel.
According to him, the security agencies advised him against insisting on going to the venue of the congress which he said prompted him to get across to the APC National Secretariat in Abuja where he was directed to delegate the Committee Secretary to conduct the Oyo APC state congress at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium.
Congress eventually held
However, the Oyo APC state congress finally kicked off at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium at about noon with the accreditation of delegates with thousands of the party loyalists gathering at a portion of the stadium complex having been locked out of the stadium’s main bowl earlier agreed to be the the venue.
Amidst the confusion, 36 new state ofdicials were elected for APC in Oyo state with Hon Isaac Ajiboye Omodewu emerging the new state Chairman, Olaide Moshood Abass the deputy Chairman, Mojeed Olaoya, Joshua Oyebamiji Atiku, Tajudeen Lannipe, as State Secretary; Sijuade Adigun, Woman Leader; and Abdul Salam Muhammed Deji, Legal Adviser.
To stamp authority on those elected amidst the controversy, the motion for the adoption of Hon Isaac Ajiboye Omodewu as Chairman as well as other 35 members of the new executives was moved by a member of House of Representatives, Hon Dokun Odebunmi, seconded by a former Majority Leader of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Kehinde Subair.
Acceptance speech
In his acceptance speech, the new Oyo APC Chairman, Hon Isaac Ajiboye Omodewu promised to do the needful within the party by embarking on instance reconciliation moves towards bringing back all those against the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium congress that produced him as the new Chairman for the main opposition party in Oyo state to be in a better position to face the challenges ahead of the party particularly in wrestling power back from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, saying, “allthanks and adoration to Almighty God for making today’s State Congress of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, a successful one.Before, I proceed with my speech, let’s have one minute silence in memories of two founding fathers of our great party, His Excellency (Dr.) Lamidi Onaolapo Adesina (Great Lam) and His Excellency (Dr.) Isiaq Abiola Ajimobi (Shehu). May Almighty Allah grant the departed former governors Aljana Fridauz. Amin.
“I am highly honoured to stand before great leaders and teeming members of APC as duly elected State Chairman APC Oyo State. Dear Delegates, I am humbled by the great honour you have conferred on me and the sacred trust you have bestowed on me; and with extreme humility, “I accept this responsibility. On behalf of myself, and on behalf of my co-executives, who are surrounding me here right now. We have undertaken to lead this party to electoral victories in 2023 and beyond .
“Today’s state congress of our great party signals beginning of another chapter. I belong to no one, I belong to all members of our great party. My main tasks are to unite all tendencies within the party and to lead APC to victories in 2023 general elections and beyondThis is a heavy responsibility. But I assure our teeming members, it is a responsibility we will not take very lightly. I pledge to do my utmost, God being on my side, to justify the faith and the confidence that APC members have imposed on me and all the new members of the state executives of our great party. I hail Hon. Gambo Lawan-led 7-man State Congress Committee for conducting a very transparent and peaceful state congress” .
“We have shamed our critics, going by the peaceful conduct of today’s exercise. There is no winner, no vanquished as far as today’s exercise is concerned. I appeal to all the party stakeholders to maintain the love and interest of our great party within their hearts.
“Today’s exercise wouldn’t have been possible without the cooperation of the Nigerian security agencies and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). It is a popular saying that the word T-E-A-M was an acronym that stands for ‘Together Everyone Achieves More.’
“So, when we embrace teamwork, without worrying about who gets the credit, it is always amazing how much people get done. As observed by scholars, a boat doesn’t go forward if each one is rowing their own way. Teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success. We are not a team because we work together. We are a team because we respect, trust, and care for each other.
“I appeal to all members of this party to join hands together for the electoral victories of our party in 2023 and beyond. This acceptance speech will be incomplete if I fail to give kudos to Governor Mai Buni of Yobe State, who is the Chairman of our Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of APC, for a job well done. The committee has emplaced justice without favouritism.
“In conclusion, I solemnly solicit the maximum support and cooperation of co-aspirants, critical stakeholders and our teeming members. Join hands with us to take back Oyo state from the misruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2023 general elections.
Conclusion
What is, however, clear about the scenario is the fact that the crisis emanating from the congress would mean a lot to the survival or otherwise of the party in the state as the 2023 general elections draw nearer hence the need for the party to quickly put its house in order to prevent a repeat of its 2019 experience.
As at present, there is no doubt in the fact that all is not well in Oyo state APC amidst the one week mandate given to stakeholders and leaders in the party to do the needful on the lists before resending it back to Abuja National Secretariat for the much awaited final decision on what becomes of the congress outcome.
