Oyo APC split ahead of general election

• Folarin loyalists accuse Ajimobi, Akintola and others of anti-party activity• 'Party candidate runs exclusive campaign' With less than two months to the 2023 general election, the dust kicked up by neighborhoods of October 2021, local governments and state congresses of Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the anger that greeted the emergence of Senator Teslim Folarin, as the candidate for the post of party governor is not yet settled.

The Guardian understands that while some aggrieved leaders and aspirants have angrily defected to other parties, those who have remained are not flaunting their determination not to work for Folarin in the gubernatorial elections. March 11.

Although they committed to the decision of the reconciliation committee, some of them expressed their displeasure with the way Folarin and his supporters handled the campaign without dragging them. However, some of them told The Guardian that they would have left the party had it not been for the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the party's presidential candidate. Senator Femi Lanlehin leads the reconciliation committee.

They believe that if Tinubu eventually wins the election, whatever they might have lost in Oyo State might as well be made up in the center.

For example, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and APC leader, Chief Adeniyi Akintola, who ran in the gubernatorial primary but lost to Folarin, said that although he had left party politics, he now supports personalities who can win and bring about development.

He revealed that he only supports the APC presidential candidate and Governor Seyi Makinde of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State.

For Akintola, only Makinde has what it takes to win the Oyo State Governor contest, predicting that Tinubu will also be victorious in the elections.

He revealed that the grassroots APC progressives are now with Makinde, saying, "I can't stop them, I can't bring them back, they're adults, they're all here at the stadium last Saturday."

Akintola went so far as to unveil the incumbent governor's accomplishments to the electorate. “Two progressive leaders of the Ogun State APC branch are not together, yes they are still in the same party. I said I'm done with partisan politics so why should I convince anyone to change my mind I do personality even in my local government if a candidate is me presented, I am interested in those who can add value to an ordinary man on the street, I told my loyalists to go and rally support for Tinubu,” Akintola said.

The former APC gubernatorial aspirant has also denied rumors that he collapsed his political structure for Folarin.

The Guardian has reliably understood that although Folarin individually reached out to Akintola after the primary, the legal luminary is stubborn.

Similarly, the Oyo State Coordinator of the Tinubu/Shettima Women's Presidential Campaign Organization, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, wife of former State Governor, Late Abiola Ajimobi, is also accused of working against Folarin, despite being a member. of the APC.

She is said to be supporting Adelabu instead of Folarin and Accord's Oyo South senatorial candidate Kola Daisi instead of APC's Sharafadeen Alli.

Some Folarin loyalists told the Guardian how Ms Ajimobi met with members of the Oyo State chapters of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Muslim worshipers and allegedly distributed Adelabu and of Kola Daisi, as well as other members of the National Assembly and the State Chamber. candidates for the Assembly of the Agreement. She was accused of telling everyone present to vote Tinubu/Shettima in the presidential election but to vote for Adelabu and other PA candidates in other elections.

They also accused her of buying a fancy phone for some APC leaders with the intention of participating in Folarin's campaign. In fact, Folarin's supporters reportedly circulated photographs of where she allegedly distributed Adelabu leaflets to CAN members and Muslims in her home.

But one of his aides who pleaded for anonymity dismissed the allegation as baseless.

As well as Ms Ajimobi, it was found that APC leaders such as the Minister for Sports and Youth Development, Sunday Dare; the former Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu; The Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Adeolu Akande and a host of party critics have failed to show enough commitment to the Folarin project.

The disposition of former party chairman Chief Akin Oke and former party spokesman Dr AbdulAzeez Olatunde to Folarin's ambition in the upcoming gubernatorial ballot remains unclear. They are neither seen with the senator nor making positive comments since the start of the campaign.

The Guardian...