National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Governor Mai Bala Buni, has cleared the air over who is leader of the party in Oyo State, just as he declared that the Chairman of the party, Pa Akin Oke is the leader of the opposition party in the state.
Governor Buni made the declaration in Abuja, the nation’s capital on Thursday during a meeting with some stakeholders in the party from Oyo State who had met him to discuss the state congress initially billed for Saturday but eventually postponed after the meeting between Buni and the stakeholders.
The stakeholders, including Minster for Youth and Sports, Chief Sunday Dare, former Minister for Communications, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu, Senator Ayoade Adeseun and APC Gubernatorial Candidate in the 2019 election, Chief Adebayo Adelabu had met the party Chairman over disputes on which delegate list would be used for the state congress.
The APC had been engulfed in crisis over the congresses as different groups held separate congresses and there were claims and counter claims on which of the delegates would be used for the state congress.
Last week when other states went into congress, the national leadership of the party postponed the exercise in Oyo State over allegations that the process had been compromised. A new congress date was fixed for Wednesday but that was again postponed to Saturday which was again postponed indefinitely.
Stakeholders at the meeting disclosed that the National Chairman after listening to submissions by the stakeholders declared that the leader of the party in the state, Pa Akin Oke should take charge of the affairs of the party and bring all the warring parties together.
“The National Chairman was categorical in his declaration that in any state where the party does not have a sitting governor, the Chairman of the party in the state is the leader of the party and he is expected to be the rallying point of all affairs of the party.
“In the specific instance of Oyo State, Governor Buni said the party had known Chief Oke for a long time as a father in the progressives party and they have absolute confidence in him to lead the party in Oyo State.
“At the end of the meeting in Abuja, Governor Buni postponed the congress by two weeks with admonition of the critical stakeholders in the party in Oyo State to resolve their differences and position the party for greater challenges”, they discussed.
Other critical stakeholders who attended the meeting included , Hon. Gunju Adesakin, former Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon. Abass Alesinloye, former Chairmwn of the Association of Local Government Chairmen, (ALGON). Chief Gbenga Olayemi and Alhaji Sarafadeen Alli, former Secretary to the Oyo State Government.
