Adelabu set to be affirmed Accord Party gov candidate in Oyo

A new entrant into the Accord party, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, is set to be affirmed as the governorship candidate of the Accord Party in Oyo State for the 2023 election.

Adelabu, who was governorship party of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 election had on June 2 announced his defection to the Accord party, where he said he will pursue his governorship ambition.

Adelabu’s defection came after he declared the APC governorship primary held on May 27 that Senator Teslim Folarin won, as an ignominious charade.

However, uncertainty has reigned on whether or not Adelabu had secured the governorship candidature of the Accord party with Mr Saheed Ajadi consistently claiming that he is the governorship candidate of the party that he emerged from the primary of the party and had not said he is withdrawing for anyone.

But, Resident Electoral Commissioner, Oyo State, Mr Mutiu Agboke, had during an interaction with journalists on Tuesday, dropped the hint that the Accord Party had informed the commission of plans to conduct fresh processes towards the emergence of its candidates.

When Nigerian Tribune contacted the caretaker chairman of the Accord Party, Paul Igbinsola, he specifically said that the party will next week conduct a primary where Adelabu will be affirmed as the governorship candidate of the party.

Igbinsola said party members in the state, as well as the national secretariat of the party, approve of Adelabu’s emergence as the governorship candidate of the party.

On Ajadi’s claim of being the consensus candidate of the Accord party, Igbinsola said Saheed Ajadi never emerged from any of the primaries held by the two factions in the party.

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He said Ajadi never purchased any Expression of Interest form from any of the two factions, questioning where Ajadi said a primary held and he emerged governorship candidate of the party.

“There is a problem in the party, intra-party crisis which doesn’t disturb our candidate. Both sides, including the judgment creditors and judgment debtors both adopt Abdulwaheed Adelabu as gubernatorial candidate.

“The name of Saheed Ajadi never came out even in the first primary. His name did not come out within the Ajaja camp or within my own camp. I don’t know how Saheed Ajadi started claiming he is the only candidate. He did not purchase any Expression of Interest form from either of both factions.

“I do not know anywhere where a primary happened and Ajadi emerged either here or there. From the other list and my list, his name is not there.

Both factions adopted Adebayo Adelabu as their gubernatorial candidate. By the time we unveil him, you will see. We have sent his name to Abuja.

“We will conduct an affirmation. We still have up till 17th July to submit the name of the candidate. We will have the time before the 17th of July to conduct an affirmation primary.

“The first primary according to INEC guideline has been conducted. We conducted our own on the 8th of June, the Ajaja faction conducted their own on the 6th of June. But, according to the new electoral act, if a candidate is withdrawing for another candidate, the delegates have to affirm, that is why we are going to do an affirmation primary. We will do the affirmation next week.”

When Nigerian Tribune spoke with Ajadi on the latest development, he maintained that he emerged as consensus candidate at a primary witnessed by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), adding that he had pictorial evidence to back his claim.

He said he remained the only person that purchased the governorship form of the Accord Party in Oyo State, stressing that no substitution of candidate could happen without him instructing it.

Ajadi said: “There was a consensus done. The electoral commissioner was there. I am the only one that bought the form of the party. I was the only candidate at that time. It was a consensus that was done because the national chairman had become partisan.

“I am still the only candidate that bought the form for Accord. I bought my form from Abuja from the recognised office of Accord.

“If there is going to be a candidate different from me, it is going to be based on my instruction because the person I nominated has not withdrawn his nomination from INEC if we are going to substitute and I am going to be the one to instruct that change of name.

“On the day of the primary, the INEC officials were already on ground and for us not to flop, we did a consensus. I nominated a person as consensus candidate. So I do not see any reason why I should not be the candidate because I put the person’s name as consensus candidate.”

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