Ahead of the 2027 Governorship Election in Oyo state, the Minister of Power Chief Adebayo Adelabu has denied any insinuation that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will impose on All Progressives Congress in Oyo state as the governorship flag bearer of the party come 2027.
The minister stated this while addressing Wards, Local Executive and Stakeholders of APC in Ibadan South East local government at his Iyaganku residence.
According to the Minister, the state will conduct primary elections when the time comes, noting that the best candidate will emerge without any imposition
Adelabu wonder how a President overseeing 36 states with FCT will be interested in imposing someone as a governor of a state adding that he believes in competition because whatever that is good is not only meant for only one person, noting that competition brings out the best in someone.
He said, “Im ready to engage in healthy competition that will not lead to hatred and bad blood so that at the end of the day, after the primary elections when winner would have emerge, there will be good platform for reconciliation and other aspirants that lost will not lose everything but there will be way of compensating everybody with nominations and appointments and no one go home without having anything.”
The Minister stated that President Tinubu will not want to create bad blood in any state because all aspirants of the party belong to him, adding that even if the President has personal likeness for a particular aspirant, he can’t come to such a state and vote for such an aspirant.
He said, “The best advise President Tinubu will give me is to go back to my state to work and win people to my side which I have stated, and it will be obvious to everybody that whoever eventually got the governorship ticket actually worked for it and I have started the work now.
He described President Tinubu as a true democrat, who believes in the voice of the people and the followership.
He said, “Nobody can do any top down validation or top down imposition of an aspirant as the candidate of the party, that will be the beginning of failure. People want to see that any aspirant that emerges as a candidate for the party is voluntarily elected, and that is what I’m preaching, nobody will impose anybody.
“There wasn’t any imposition in 2019 when I emerged as a candidate for the party, I emerged in a keenly contested primarily. I did the most work because my campaign was the most flamboyant and energized one then.
“Today’s meeting is a consultation meeting with all the local government executives, ward chairmen and leaders of our party in Ibadan South East Local government to inform them about my ambition to run for governorship in the next general elections.
“This is my local government and where my family is from, so, I needed to carry them along and let them know that my aspiration is being renewed. The meeting was like a family gathering, we reviewed our journey so far from 2019 to 2023.
“I’m glad that the aspiration received 100 percent endorsement of all the stakeholders, they promised their support and to do everything possible to ensure that governorship came back to Ibadan South East Local government by 2027.
“I thanked them for the support and endorsement and to have identified themselves with my aspiration, we are not a new comer in this game, we tried it in 2019, we missed out narrowly, we tried it in 2023 with a minor party, we saw the outcome, 2027 is going to be bigger and more serious and receive mass endorsement across the state and the journey has began.
“From next week, I will begin a consultation tour to all the leaders in the seven geopolitical zones of the state.”
In his remark, the Oyo South Senatorial chairman of APC, Hon Mojeed Olaoya said members of the party will stand by whoever emerged as the gubernatorial candidate of the party come 2027.
He said there will be total and genuine reconciliation in the party, saying the party has learnt from 2019 and 2023 elections when the party lost to the opposition due to division within the party.