The All Progressives Congress, APC governorship aspirant in Oyo state, Adebayo Adelabu has kicked against the emergence of Senator Sarafadeen Ali as the party’s consensus candidate for next year’s election.
Adelabu, who recently joined the governorship race after resigning his position as the Minister of Power, spoke in Ibadan, Oyo state’s on Saturday at a meeting organised by some APC stakeholders in the state, saying the party may lose the election if the decision is not reversed immediately.
The magazine reports that Senator Ali was, on Friday, endorsed as the APC governorship candidate for the 2027 governorship election by some party’s stakeholders, a development that has generated reactions from other aspirants under the platform of the party, including Adelabu.
According to him , the emergence of Senator Ali, as the party’s candidate failed due process because he did not emerge through a primary election, warning the party that Senator Ali’s emergence could pose a danger to the party if any aggrieved aspirant decides to challenge it in the court, a situation that may result in the APC losing the governorship election next year.
He stressed that the APC stakeholders who chose Senator Ali as the party’s consensus candidate contradicted the directive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the party to conduct primary for all the aspirants in the party who are interested in becoming the occupier of the Agodi Government House in 2027.
He added that the endorsement was not also approved by the APC chairman in the state and his executives, describing it as a “joke’ and “bastardisation” of democracy.
Adelabu: “Any endorsement done without the consent of the state APC chairman and its executives, together with other gubernatorial aspirants, is null and void, and it won’t stand.
“The endorsement is a joke and can best be described as a bastardisation of democracy. President Tinubu is a core progressive and a democrat; he is fair and will not be partial to anyone.
“The President has said we should go for direct primaries in choosing the party’s gubernatorial candidate if the consensus option fails. Whoever says President Tinubu has endorsed any aspirant as the party’s consensus candidate is not telling the truth.”
The former minister left his position two weeks ago, after informing President Tinubu, of his ambition to run for governorship in the state, at a meeting with the president in Aso Villa, Nigeria’s Presidency in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Meanwhile, the magazine had earlier reported that Senator Ali was endorsed as the state governorship candidate in Lagos, alongside other governorship aspirants in the zone by the APC South west stakeholders, with the imprimatur of the president.
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