•Details Of His Peace Meeting With OYO APC Stakeholders
In what looks like one of his last minute strategies ahead of the general elections, the All Progressives Congress, APC gubernatorial candidate in Oyo State, Senator Teslim Folarin has embarked on reconciliation moves with aggrieved stakeholders of the party.
Last week, Folarin reconciled with two of the aggrieved stakeholders of his party; Senator Soji Akanbi and Senator Kola Balogun.
The former Senate Leader, we gathered, met with the two men separately in a close door meetings.
While the meeting between Folarin and Akanbi was said to have been initiated by Folarin himself, that of Senator Kola Balogun, it was gathered, was facilitated by an Ibadan High Chief, Chief Amidu Ajibade.
The above mentioned stakeholders were said to have settled their differences and agreed to work together with a view to achieving electoral victories for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other APC candidates on February 25th and March 11th general elections.
In an interview, Soji Akanbi, a former senator of Oyo South, didn’t only confirm their agreement to work as a team but also denied the insinuation that he was working for Gov. Seyi Makinde’s reelection.
Akanbi, who doubles as Chairman of the strategy and policy committee of Tinubu/Shettima Grassroots Independent Campaign Council, was quoted to have said that if he doesn’t want reconciliation, he wouldn’t have allowed the three-term senator representing Oyo Central into his house.
He said: “That I accepted to play host to Sen. Teslim Folarin in my house means reconciliation has started. It is the beginning of reconciliation. You know it doesn’t happen in a day, it is a gradual process. I am a stakeholder in APC. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is our project and APC is our platform. And like Senator Folarin said during the visit, we should work to ensure we will win the first election with a very wide margin and this requires us all to work together in unison. Before Sen. Folarin’s coming, we have been on it for many months. At least, we have started something and I hope it works.
“To those saying I am working for Governor ‘Seyi Makinde’s re-election. That, I want to say, is a lie. I have always been a progressive all my life. For this 2023 elections, Governor ‘Seyi Makinde never approached to seek my support and since I am not a father Xmas, I can’t support someone who never approached me for such. So the visit of Sen. Foalrin to my house is the begging of something. We’ll continue to talk.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Chief Sunday Dare has also declared his support for Folarin.
While speaking on a radio interview recently, Sunday Dare, the Agbaakin of Ogbomosoland, said he would team up with others to ensure the APC wins all elections in Oyo State.
He emphasized on the fact that many aggrieved members of the party have been appealed to and that in the coming days many more people would be visible.
“We have a better candidate in Oyo State. And I have no doubt in my mind that he would defeat the incumbent. He was the leader of the state and he is a three-term senator.
Over the years, he has garnered needed leadership experiences that can be deployed in making things work for good in our state.
“I am with him and there is no doubt about that. We may have a point where we disagree but that is normal in politics. We have discussed and have discovered that we all need to work together. We were in government for 8 years and we shouldn’t have lost the state but for division. I think we have all learnt our lessons,” he said.
It would be recalled that Oyo APC has been crisis before now. Some stakeholders of the party accused Folarin of hijacking the party structure. In fact, he has been tagged on the political scene as ‘Jagba’ politician.
The emergence of former Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Isaac Omodewu, who is believed to be Folarin’s loyalist, as Chairman of the party was a contributing factor to the crisis. While Folarin’s emergence as guber candidate on the other hand also brought division into the party.
In fact, those instances were part of the many reasons some members left to join another party.
But with this new development, Folarin’s guber ambition seems to be getting the desired boosts. As plan is said to be on the way for more aggrieved stakeholders of the party to be brought back on board.
– Dare Adeniran
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