Kemi Olaitan reports that last Saturday’s by-election in Ibadan North Federal Constituency won by the Peoples Democratic Party may have pitched members of the All Progressives Congress in Oyo State against Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu.
Oyo State was part of the 12 states in the country where by-election was conducted last Saturday by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to fill the vacant seat of Ibadan North Federal Constituency.
It was won by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hon. Folajinmi Oyekunle who polled 18,404 votes, defeating other challengers including Hon. Adewale Olatunji, widely known as Murphy, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who garnered 8,312 votes.
The seat became vacant following the death of Hon. Olaide Akinremi (Jagaban), a ranking member of the House of Representatives on the platform of APC who died on July 10, 2024.
While the result of the election torpedoed APC from the seat it had in its kitty before, it however did not come as a surprise to political watchers in the pace setter state who believed that the party faced the election with a divided house.
For many, the journey to defeat started during the process of picking the candidate to fly the ticket of the party. While the leadership of the party adopted indirect primary to achieve this, most of the aspirants kicked against the emergence of Olatunji as the flagbearer of the party alleging that the process was manipulated.
Indeed, six of the aspirants while addressing journalists in Ibadan about two weeks to the election, rejected the choice of Olatunji for the by-election, raising alarm that should the party lose the election the former acting National Chairman of the party, Bukar Dalori and Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, must be blamed.
An aide to former governor, late Senator Abiola Ajimobi, Saheed Aderounmu, who spoke on behalf of the other five aspirants, said they stand united against what they termed ‘alleged imposition’ of Olatunji as the candidate of the party, describing the act as a clear disregard for democratic principles and the rule of law.
They alleged that the former acting National Chairman in collusion with Adelabu, caused crisis by imposing Olatunji without a primary election in line with relevant laws and party guidelines, maintaining that the imposition is unacceptable as it will undermine the credibility of the party.
Aderounmu said, “We reject imposition in politics and believe that all candidates should be given a fair chance, just like President Bola Tinubu subjected himself to party primaries. If there’s a crisis in the party and APC fails to win, the blame should go to Adebayo Adelabu and the national working committee under the former acting chairman, Ali Bukar Dalori.
“We pray for truthful, inclusive and harmonious reconciliation to save our party. We reiterate our commitment to democratic principles and the rule if law. We believe that the APC should as a party that upholds the values of democracy fairness and transparency do the right thing and allow democracy to take it’s course.”
The blame game on Adelabu rather than abate has increased since the declaration of the result with many chieftains and groups within the APC calling for his head over the defeat of the party.
For instance, a group within the party under the aegis of Concerned Leaders, specifically appealed on President Tinubu, to sack the Minister of Power, over what it described as his questionable capacity, lacklustre leadership style, and poor decision making ability.
The group in a statement by its Chairman, Chief Tejumola Adisa, warned that if Adelabu is not removed now his acts may seriously harm the administration of President Tinubu, stating that the Minister had already brought harm to the APC in Oyo State.
While appraising the outcome of the by-election in Ibadan North Federal Constituency where APC was defeated in all the 12 wards, the leaders said the party failed woefully in the election as a result of the poor decision by the Minister to single handedly pick an unpopular candidate out of the more qualified and popular aspirants that bought forms on the platform of the party.
The leaders, who expressed sadness over the abysmal performance of the party in the election, added that the unilateral imposition of unpopular candidate on the party for the election, arrogance, bad human relations and weird allotment of positions and government patronages by Adelabu have destroyed the party in Oyo State.
The statement by the Concerned Leaders read in part, ‘’In a reckless display of naked power, the Minister without any recourse to party leaders in the local government and the state arrogantly imposed Mr. Adewale Olatunji, who had not been associating with the party against more reputable and acceptable active party members, that included former local government chairmen and former members of House of Assembly.
“At the end of the day, Adelabu’s imposed candidate was roundly defeated in all the 12 wards, including his polling unit, where he struggled to win just six votes.”
The APC leaders stated further that due to his insensitivity to diverse perspectives, Adelabu gave the three major appointments allocated to Oyo State to only members of the Accord Party under which platform he contested the gubernatorial election in 2023.
“Exercising his power as a Minister, Adelabu made Mr. Rasheed Adegboyega, a failed House of Representatives aspirant of the Accord party in Oluyole Federal Constituency, the Executive Director, Corporate Services of Rural Electrification Agency. He also made the President to appoint a leader of the Accord party in Oluyole Local Government, Hon. Ibrahim Olaifa, as the representative of Oyo State in the all-important South West Development Commission.
“Similarly, Minister Adelabu misled President Tinubu in appointing another person from Oluyole Local Government as the Oyo State Commissioner for Federal Character Commission. The position was given to the candidate of the Accord party in the last election, Hon. Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye. Ironically, Aleshinloye already had another federal appointment facilitated for him by Adelabu before last week’s appointment.
“In a state of 33 local government areas, it speaks to fatuousness, height of insensitivity and recklessness, which bothered on poor leadership, meagre thinking for a so-called leader to give three available appointments to persons from just one local government and all from his former political party”, Adisa said.
The leaders while maintaining that the President must consider the immediate removal of the Minister for his obvious lack of capacity and ability to take good decisions and lead effectively before further harms are done to the government and the APC, called for the annulment of all what it termed weird appointments done by Adelabu and that the positions should be shared reasonably and justly among the three senatorial districts of the state.
With the various scathing jibes being thrown at the Power Minister by his fellow party men, many observers are wary if the APC would be able to go into the forthcoming general elections as a united entity given the fact that a reconciliation meeting invloving all the tendencies within the party was held few days to the election. Indeed, the result of the by-election has proved that the reconciliation meeting was a mere parade before kleighlight.
The answer to the question of whether the governorship ambition of Adelabu has not met a brickwall before it started depending on how he managed to reconcile with those who are aggrieved, would be provided by the events of the next few months.
