Fresh crisis is looming in the Oyo State chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC), as some stakeholders, including a federal minister, a senator, and a former minister, among others, rejected the return of Isaac Omodewu as the state chairman of the party, IgbereTV reports.
Omodewu was inaugurated by the Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the APC as the party chairman in Oyo, even though it had received two names from two factions in the state.
While the faction formerly led by late Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala anointed Omodewu as the chairman, another faction led by the former caretaker chairman of the party in Oyo, Chief Akin Oke favoured Adejare Gbadamosi as chairman.
Meanwhile, a press statement issued on Sunday and signed by Senator Adebayo Adeseun, which listed other chieftains as signatories, challenged the basis for the inauguration of Omodewu as the state chairman of APC by the CECPC.
Other aggrieved chieftains who subscribed to the statement include Minister for Youths and Sports, Chief Sunday Dare; former Minister for Communications, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu; Senator Fatai Buhari representing Oyo North Senatorial Zone; Senator Olufemi Lanlehin; former governorship candidate, Chief Adebayo Adelabu; Chairman of the Nigeria Lotteries Regulatory Commission, Alhaji Fatai Ibikunle; and Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Professor Adeolu Akande.
Others are Dr Ismail Adewusi, Hon Zachh Adelabu Adedeji, Dr Joseph Tegbe, and Dr Azeez Adedutan.
The group argued that Omodewu was preferred by minority members of the APC, adding that his inauguration “will only lead the party to electoral disaster in Oyo State”.
It was stated in the statement that the purported congress which held on October 30 at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, and produced Omodewu as Chairman, “was held in error”. The group maintained that Gbadamosi, who emerged from a stakeholders meeting, is its preferred candidate.
