Unity Forum Disowns Oyo APC Zoning Committee
Crisis looms ahead of the state congress of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a group within the party in Oyo State, the Unity Forum, has dissociated itself from a zoning committee purportedly set up by the advisory committee of the party.
The Oyo APC Advisory Committee, under the leadership of a former governor of the state, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, reportedly ratified the zoning committee, ahead of the congress slated for October 16.
However the Unity Forum dissociated itself from the zoning committee arrangement, declaring that its composition was not in conformity with the APC Constitution.
The Forum, in a statement by former Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, also noted that the zoning arrangement is a fraudulent plot by a minority group within the party, allegedly to impose itself on the overwhelming majority of members of the party.
It therefore called on members of the APC in the state to ignore what it said is a “new scheme by the largely People’s Democratic Party (PDP) elements in the state APC to hijack the party in the tradition of the party from which they recently joined the APC.”
The group also condemned the lack of good faith, allegedly on the part of former Governor Alao-Akala on the quest by party members to have one united state congress on October 16.
The members of the Unity Forum include Senayor Ayo Adeseun, Senator Femi Lanlehin, Senator Soji Akanbi, a former deputy governor, Otunba Alake Adeyemo, Chief Abu Gbadamosi and Alhaji Fatai Ibikunle.
It also have as members Professor Adeolu Akande, former state deputy chairman of the party, Alhaji Isiaka Alimi and a former vice chairman of the party, Chief Goke Oyetunji, among others.
According to the group, “the former governor only confirmed the justification for the reservation of most members of the party about the PDP group when the idea of a unity congress was muted.
“On Wednesday, September 29,2021 a three-man delegation of the Unity Forum met with Governor Alao-Akala on the need for a single state congress. Governor Alao-Akala agreed on the need for a critical stakeholders meeting.
“It was agreed that both sides should generate 13 names for the congress. He indeed sent the list of 13 nominees and consultations were on for the remaining 13 nominees when suddenly there was news of the constitution of a nine-man zoning committee.
“The committee has, at least, five known supporters of a serving senator and gubernatorial aspirant, including the chairman and secretary of the committee.
“The list only had two nominees from the Unity Forum, even when it is public knowledge that the Unity Forum controls majority of party members. To make matters worse, the nominees from Unity Forum were selected by the PDP group without recourse to the Unity Forum.
“There is enough evidence of bad faith in the composition of the nine-man committee. We call on the leadership of the APC at the national level to be watchful of the PDP elements in the APC who appear hellbent on destroying the progressives party in Oyo State.”
