Oyo APC Congress Should Be Postponed By One Week-Ex-AG
A former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Oyo State, Mutalubi Adebayo Ojo, has called for the postponement of the state congress of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by one week.
He also called on the party leadership in the state to do away with all the zoning arrangement, given the prevailing hostilities and allow all the offices to be contested in order to calm all frayed nerves and also promote healthy rivalries among party members.
The state congress of the party, which was postponed from the initial 16 October, 2021 date, due to disagreement among the various interests in the party over the conduct of the exercise, was rescheduled to hold tomorrow.
However, Ojo, who is the Asiwaju of Idi-Aro and Ita-Ege in Ward 5, Ibadan South-East Local Government Area, in a statement, described as shameful the internal wrangling threatening to tear the party apart.
He appealed for the postponement of the state congress by one week, and declared: “It is very shameful that the APC family in Oyo State is unable to put its house in order over the state congress, which is also just like the earlier ward and local government congresses.
The former Commissioner for Justice further said it is more shameful to note that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which started its own congresses, some months after the APC started its own, will hold its National Convention in Abuja tomorrow and Sunday.
“The unfortunate aspect of this ugly development is that nobody in the APC family, especially the governorship aspirants, is making efforts to build, develop and strengthen the party.
“Rather, all the gladiators are hell-bent and poised to take positions within the party, strategically ahead of the 2023 general election without any regards for the interest of the party, its members and the due process.
“If the shenanigans ongoing in the party is allowed to gallivant to series of predetermined ends and contrivance by those manipulating them to satisfy their parochial and selfish ends, one does not need to gaze into any crystal ball to know that woeful outcome shall be the lots of the party in the 2023 elections. A house divided itself will surely collapse.
“In view of the irreconcilable differences among various stakeholders and gladiators, I want to suggest, most humbly, that the state congress of the party be postponed against by another one week.
“Also, we should do away with all the zoning arrangements as it is very obvious and clear that it will not work, considering the circumstances we find ourselves.
“We should, therefore, allow the offices of the party to be contested to placate all frayed nerves and also to promote healthy rivalries among party members,” the statement read.
Ojo advised that all the Oyo APC members who are statutory delegates should be allowed to serve as the electorate or delegates to elect state officers of the party at the state congress.
“I appeal to all members of the party, irrespective of their groupings and or leanings within the party, to sheath their swords and allow for cohesion and peace within the Oyo APC,” he further said.
