•As SHINA PELLER, FOWZY & Co. Join ACCORD Party
There are strong indications that the former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Chief Bayo Adelabu is set for a vengeance mission in the coming 2023 election. Adelabu, it would be recalled, contested and lost the gubernatorial ticket of the Oyo State chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC to Senator Teslim Folarin, the lawmaker representing Oyo Central Senatorial District in the Country’s Upper Chamber.
But rather than let go, Adelabu has vowed to achieve his guber ambition elsewhere and since defected to another political party, Accord. Saying that he only left his plum job at the CBN to actualise his dream of becoming the governor of Oyo State. Adelabu is not alone in this, other aspirants who lost out in the APC primaries have also followed suit by decamping from the party. Hon. Shina Peller, Kolapo Kola-Daisi and Faozey, who contested Oyo North, Oyo South and Oyo Central senatorial districts, respectively, have also pitched their tent with Accord Party. In fact, so bittered is Adelabu that he described the APC primary that produced Senator Teslim Folarin as the party’s candidate as a mockery of democracy. The big question now is, can Adelabu achieve his guber ambition in a less popular political party like Accord Party? As Adelabu stated in a press release shortly after the outcome of the primary, nothing can stop him from achieving his political ambition.
“My followers have asked me to leave the APC, I have left the APC.” “We will come back to the APC after winning the governorship election because we are progressives.” “It worked during the time of late Senator Abiola Ajimobi, he left the Action Congress and went to All Nigeria Peoples Party and later came back to Action Congress of Nigeria.” “All I can tell the whole world for now is that I will contest in the 2023 general elections as a governorship candidate, no matter what. This is the only reason why I left my groovy career as a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2018.”
“No amount of intimidation, threat, or harassment can stop me from my passionate ambition of revolutionising the political, social, and economic landscape of Oyo State through the machinery of government,” the abridged version reads.
While the realisation of his guber dream can’t be totally write-off, many, however, believe Adelabu, with the present circumstances, may not be too keen in becoming governor but ready to act as a spoiler to Teslim Folarin’s chances as far as the coming election is concerned.
The calculation, according to some political watchers in the state is very simple. It’s believed that the majority of votes in the election are going to be shared among the top political parties and Adelabu with his followers, as well as other defectors, means more votes for Accord. This will affect APC votes and may make Governor Makinde’s second term a bit easier.
A source close to Adelabu’s camp also revealed to this magazine that the ex-banker’s plan is to teach Folarin and his camp a bitter lesson for the way he was schemed out of affairs of Oyo APC and its primary.
Adelabu, according to the source, is ready to do everything humanly possible to make sure Teslim Folarin doesn’t win the coming 2023 election. That he doesn’t mind for both of them to go back to grand zero rather than working for Folarin to become Governor. To achieve this, the source said, is why Adelabu is been lobbying other aggrieved members of Oyo APC members to join forces with him in Accord.
While some, especially his supporters, see Adelabu’s defection to Accord Party as a good move, however, others say it may be a grievous mistake in his political career. Those who feel Adelabu made a wrong decision believe he should have stayed put in the party he once benefited from by working for its success come 2023.
They cite as an example how Adelabu was imposed on other aspirants as APC guber candidate in 2019 by the late former governor, Abiola Ajimobi.
Joseph Tegbe, who is now in PDP, was said to be the preferred or anointed candidate before the whole thing changed at the last minute, at the instance of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as it was claimed then. Adelabu, however, lost the Oyo guber election to the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, Seyi Makinde in the election.
But as it is now, would Adelabu stick to his guns and work against APC in 2023? Will he be persuaded to come back to the party by his political godfather and mentor and the Presidential candidate of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu? Can Adelabu and Folarin camps work together as a team in APC? All these questions will definitely get answers as events unfold ahead of the 2023 general elections.
-Dare Adeniran
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