Fakunle, a one-time Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperative under the erstwhile Governor of the state, Chief Bisi Akande, who spoke with newsmen recently in Osogbo after the celebration of the Osun Osogbo festival also made some clarification on the issue of the Alliance for Democracy being a metamorphosis All Progressive Congress which is said that it is a gross misconception by the people which allowed Senator Bola Tinubu, the then governor of Lagos state’s party rode on the misfortune of the party in 2004 to get into power and rescued power from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
“AD is not dead, through the grace of God and personal wisdom and sponsor of Baba Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa, the only senator that was produced by the AD in 1999, the party is still alive and never was AD a metamorphosis of Action People’s Congress (APC).
“I must tell you that since 2003 till date, the AD is always presenting candidates for all elective posts including every governorship elections not only in Osun State but in other states of the federation where we have candidates contesting on the platform of the AD. In fact, we even had a presidential candidate in the2007 presidential election against former President Goodluck Jonathan in the name of Rabiu Salawu.
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“So, AD is not dead, it is very much alive, the truth of the matter is that since 2003, AD has not been winning elective positions either the gubernatorial election, Senate, National Assembly or whatever, though we won the Ondo State House of Assembly in the constituency of late Baba Adebayo Adefarati, the governor of Ondo state.
“Even in the last Ondo State gubernatorial election which Barrister Rotimi Akeredolu won in Ondo state, you will recall that we had a candidate in the person of Olusola Oke who lost gallantly to the eventual winner.
We have had candidates vying for elective posts in Lagos and other parts of the country as well and in this current dispensation, we have a credible candidate that would be participating in the forthcoming Osun state Gubernatorial election taking place on September 22, 2018.
‘Let me use this opportunity to shed more light into what actually happened, when the military came on board under late General Sani Abacha, the Military Head of states who prescribed the two leading political parties, the National Republican Convention(NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) formed during the Babangida’s
transition era from military to civilian. Afenifere fought for Democracy and later formed Alliance for Democracy (AD), but when AD lost all the gubernatorial posts in the South West, which they won in 1999 (except in Lagos) election in 2003, though a lot of our people migrated to APC to join Lago who later rescued all the states AD earlier won in 1999 from PDP in the South West who ruled between 2003 to 2007 with his new party (APC), but AD remained the same alive and kicking and was never a dead political party.
The point was they wanted DPA as a setback in case the AD was not allowed to take part in the 2007 general election. So, people like Chief Olu Falae, our Presidential candidate, went to resuscitate the SDP and became the Chairman. So, I think that was where the confusion sets in and I stand to be challenged.”
and then