There is uneasy calm in the Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) following the nomination of former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Chief Adebayo Adelabu as the ministerial nominee for the State.
Several members of the Oyo APC, in conversations with the Nigerian Tribune, described President Bola Tinubu’s nomination of Adelabu, who they described as an outsider, being currently a member of the Accord Party, as unjust and unfair to members of the Oyo APC who have remained in the party.
They argued that even if President Tinubu was particularly displeased with certain persons in the Oyo APC, he should have carried along the party and asked for other nominations.
Though they noted that Tinubu may have made the nomination of Adelabu in the spirit of forming a government of national unity, the APC members held that those who openly fronted and campaigned for Tinubu should be rewarded ahead of those who only covertly supported Tinubu’s election.
Also at a stakeholders meeting held on Saturday, several party members also voiced their unfavourable disposition towards Adelabu’s nomination, with some warning that the nomination could destroy the Oyo APC.
The stakeholders at the meeting, however, said they were maintaining their calm owing to a directive from the national headquarters of the party that state chapters should open their hands to receive those who may want to return ‘home’.
It also emerged at the stakeholders’ meeting that the national headquarters’ call for calm was due to feelers that Adelabu, after his expected confirmation as minister, planned to stage a rally to announce his return to the APC from Accord Party.
Attempting to address reservations about Adelabu’s nomination, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Niyi Akintola, in a statement, argued that Tinubu was president of all Nigerians, and would choose people that would join him to deliver good governance, even if they are non-members of the APC.
Akintola further argued that Tinubu would pick people of his choice not only on political grounds but also on technical and past relationships.
Akintola described Adelabu as a sound and solid technocrat, calling on those displeased at Adelabu’s nomination to, in the interest of supporting Tinubu administration, to sheath their swords.
He added that Tinubu must have made the nomination of Adelabu based on information at his disposal that few people in the State have.
In the same vein, a former chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Oyo State chapter, Mr Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye posited that Adelabu deserved the ministerial nomination having demonstrated core attributes of integrity, exemplary character, selfless service as a renowned technocrat and popular democrat in his national assignment and political duties.
He held further that Adelabu recorded immeasurable strides as deputy governor of the CBN that had remained indelible and boasts of exceptional public track record and personal contributions to the development of Ibadan-land and Oyo in general.
Credit: Tribune
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