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  • Politics
  • Updated: January 24, 2022

Akala’s Death: Folarin, Akintola Duel Over Oyo APC Leadership

Akala’s Death: Folarin, Akintola Duel Over Oyo APC Leaders

Barely two weeks after the death of former Governor of Oyo State and All Progressives Congress (APC) Chieftain, Otunba Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala, Senator Teslim Folarin and Chief Niyi Akintola, SAN, have emerged as the frontrunners for the control of the party amid the crisis rocking the APC nationwide.

While a governor of a North-Central State is rooting for Folarin, Akintola is largely favored by prominent stakeholders.

If the statutory arrangement is to be followed in the absence of the former governor, late Adebayo Alao-Akala, Chief Iyiola Oladokun, a former deputy governor of the state and the current highest-ranking public office holder, should emerge APC leader in the state.

Next to Oladokun in the statutory hierarchy is Chief Moses Alake Adeyemo, who was deputy to the late governor, Isiaka Ajimobi. Oladokun was deputy between 1999 and 2003, to the late governor, Alhaji Lam Adesina.

Meanwhile, the executive committees approved for state chapters by the national caretaker committee led by Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, have allegedly sparked a fresh crisis in the party.

The harmonized list for the state chapter is expected to be released this week, preparatory to the swearing-in of the new state helmsmen.

Meanwhile, a source close to the party’s national secretariat disclosed during the weekend that with the fresh crisis, it is bound to be bigger in proportion than experienced in recent past, the release of the approved state chapters’ executives may be delayed till a few days to the convention.

Two senior operatives of the governing party told Sunday Tribune on Sunday, that the party is manifesting all symptoms of a post-convention explosion if the exercise scheduled to elected new national officers for the party will hold at all.

The fresh crisis is reportedly coming on the heels of accusations of lack of sincerity and objectivity on the part of the Buni leadership by factional elements in state chapters.

The two broad parameters allegedly adopted by the Buni leadership to govern the power-sharing deals among factions in the state chapters are said to be countenancing APC governors as leaders in their states and highest-ranking public office holder as leaders in non-APC states.

While other tendencies are to be accommodated in the power-sharing deals, the two categories of leaders are tipped to be in control of party structures in their states as well as major and majority of state executive positions.

The national secretariat of the party, which made the power-sharing rules, is being accused of bending them when and where it suits the purposes and interests of leading members of the Buni committee.

While the caretaker committee is said to have largely shown fidelity to the arrangement of APC governors being party leaders in their domains, the non-APC states are said to have become a trading ground for the Buni committee, frustrating shortchanged stakeholders in many states.

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