The governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the last party primaries, Chief Adebayo Adelabu has defected to the Accord party.
Adelabu left the APC with over 5000 supporters from the 33 local government areas of the state.
It will be recalled that Adelabu boycotted the APC primaries held at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan which saw the emergence of Senator Teslim Folarin as the party’s governorship candidate in 2023.
Describing the outcome of the primaries as unacceptable, Adelabu who contested the governorship election under the platform of the APC in 2019 but lost to Governor Seyi Makinde in 2023 decided to contest under the platform of another party.
The presidential candidate of the APC, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu urged the party standard bearer in the state to reconcile all aggrieved members.
“Governorship election is not a tea party. If you (Folarin) want to win this election for our party, you will light your candle, you will walk, you will work. You must reconcile all aggrieved members.
“I will still come back to Ibadan to officially present you to the people but before then, you have to intensify efforts at building a formidable team.”
It would be recalled that the party in its efforts to mend fences had set up a reconciliatory committee headed by Senator Femi Lanlehin.
The committee has been going around, meeting with aggrieved members from the three senatorial districts but their efforts to reconcile with Adelabu and his teeming followers statewide proved abortive.
Adelabu, on Wednesday at the main bowl of the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan made a formal declaration to pursue his governorship ambition under the platform of the Accord party.
This development has laid to rest the rumours making the rounds that Adelabu has been rejected by the members of the Accord party.
ALSO READ FROMÂ Â NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then