Oyo APC state congress: Oke summons emergency meeting

……..…alleges discrepancy in delegates lists

By Ogundele Olanrewaju

Akin Oke, the outgoing chairman of the All

Progressives Congress, APC, in Oyo state, has alleged that the delegate list presented to him by Gambo Lawan has been falsified.

This afternoon, the All Progressives Congress(APC) in Oyo State held a Stakeholders meeting on the State congress scheduled for tommorrow 30th October 2021.

At the meeting, the Chairman of the State Congress Committee, Alhaji Gambo Lawan handed over the result of the Ward and Local Congresses to me as demanded over the past weeks by members of the party.It is with sadness and heavy heart that I report that the result is totally different from the result handed over to the
Ward Congress and Local Government committees.

I wish to note that ahead of the ward and local government congresses, the stakeholders in the party resolved to adopt a consensus method to generate the ward and local government executives. To actualize this, leaders of all tendencies in the party met in their respective wards and local governments to agree on consensus lists. The lists so agreed upon were transmitted through the party congress committees in the respective constituencies to the party at the state level. The officials of the party and members of the congress committees from Abuja jointly collated the results from the wards and local governments.

It is important to note that Alhaji Lawan Gambo after the Ward congress addressed the press and asserted that there was no parallel congress in Oyo State. The Chairman of the Local Government Congress, Mr Hilary Adamu also addressed the press after the local government congress and noted that there were no parallel congresses in the 33 local government areas of the state. The assertions by the two chairmen confirmed the success of the harmonization efforts that produced the consensus lists.

It therefore remains questionable where and how the results handed over to me by Alhaji Gambo today was generated.

I have been bombarded by critical stakeholders and members of the party across the state over the authenticity of the result. I have communicated the reaction of party members to the leadership of the APC in Abuja. I am also under immense pressure by members of the party over the fate of the party congress scheduled for tommorrow.

As a responsible party leader, I wish to state categorically that the lists which were given to me this afternoon do not reflect the results which emanated from the Ward and Local Government Congresses as done on July 31 and September 4, 2021 respectively. To this end, i have no option but to call for an urgent meeting of stakeholders of the party for 9a.m tommorrow Saturday 30th October 2021 at the State Secretariat to determine what to do to manage the tension in the party and avert the orgy of bloodshed being threatened by most members of the party across the state.

While we are assuring the whole world that we shall do everything lawfully possible to resist the evil attempt by some unscrupulous elements to throw our dear party into unnecessary crisis, I use this medium to appeal to leaders and members of our great party to remain calm and let us work together to manage the tense situation in the state. It is my conviction that the party shall get over the present challenge more united and stronger.