‘Ganging up against Ajimobi, APC will fail’

The Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the planned coalition of some opposition parties to dislodge the ruling party in the forthcoming elections is a pipe dream.

The party’s state chairman, Chief Akin Oke, spoke yesterday at campaign rallies at the Plank Market in Bodija and Yemetu, both in Ibadan, the state capital.

In the campaign train, led by Governor Abiola Ajimobi, were the governor’s wife, Florence; the party’s governorship candidate, Chief Adebayo Adelabu and other party chieftains.

Oke told APC supporters that Oyo State residents would not leave the road and head into the bush or fall for the opposition’s ganging up that would set the state backwards.

A former governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, who is also contesting the March 2 governorship election on another platform, on Saturday, vowed to lead a coalition of opposition parties to defeat the ruling APC in the election.

But Oke described the statement as an empty boast of mushroom opposition parties.

The APC chairman said they were on the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC’s) ballot papers to just make the numbers.

He said: “We will not lose sleep over the empty boasts by mushroom opposition parties that are just on INEC ballot papers to make the numbers. They are having a dream that will not materialise. Their planned coalition will fail.

“Many of them have had the opportunity of ruling this state before and they failed the masses. The APC met the state in a mess and Governor Ajimobi cleaned it up. Our people will not allow this so-called opposition coalition to take us back to the woods.

“All we are after is continuity of good governance in Oyo State. Ganging up against APC will not yield any fruit. Nothing is as reliable and good as what God has done. Ajimobi is God’s work. Adelabu is God’s work.”

Ajimobi said Adelabu is not a match to any other candidate, in pedigree and achievements.

With a rich family background, enviable educational and career achievements, the governor stressed that Adelabu towered above the others.

The governor, who is the APC candidate for Oyo South Senatorial District, added that he met a dilapidated structure when he assumed office in 2011.

For about eight years, Ajimobi said, he had worked hard to turn around the fortunes of the state in all spheres, a feat he said had enticed other states to Oyo to copy his winning models.

He said: “Among the candidates vying for governorship position in Oyo State today, Adelabu has the best quality to lead and succeed. Is it about family background? Is it about his brilliant educational and career achievements? Tell me who among those pretenders can beat those achievements?

“Those who have been so hungry before getting to office will only get there and amass wealth and show nothing but greed. But Adelabu has been blessed by the Almighty.

“He will only get down to serious business of governance from May 29 without being distracted by vainglorious acquisition and greed. He will be focused on programmes that will help Oyo State more.

“You all can attest to the fact that we met a disorganised, violence-ridden state in 2011. We met a derelict structure. But today, we have built a befitting edifice we are all proud of. I’m assuring you that Adelabu will raise this edifice to become a mansion.

“Some opposition parties are boasting that we will not return. They have boasted like this before and we beat them. We know them to be political interlopers. They go from one party to another.”