A former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and governorship aspirant under the banner of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bayo Adelabu, has said he will contest in the 2023 election as a governorship candidate despite being schemed out of the APC primary last week.
The senator representing Oyo Central, Chief Teslim Folarin, was declared winner of the APC primary on Friday night, polling 954 votes to beat Adelabu who boycotted the exercise held at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium in Ibadan.
Reacting to the outcome of the primary in a statement on Sunday, Adelabu said he did not participate in the exercise as the delegates’ list was manipulated, describing the primary as an “ignominious charade.”
He denied joining the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as being reported in some media, disclosing that he is currently consulting with his associates across the state and will make his next move known to his supporters shortly.
“As of today, I’m not a member of SDP or any other political party as being widely circulated by media organisations. Appropriate steps will be taken after consultations in due course.
“I hereby use this opportunity to plead with my supporters throughout the nooks and cranny of Oyo State to remain calm and law-abiding. We shall in the shortest time ahead inform you all of my next line of action.
“What happened at Liberty stadium, Oke Ado, at the governorship primary election of APC is nothing but a show of shame and mockery of APC’s internal democracy. I fully dissociate myself from such mockery of our political system.
“The one day delay in conducting the primary was meant to enable them perfect their act of manipulation as nothing stopped the committee from conducting the election on the original date fixed. This foul play was quickly noticed by me, hence my decision to opt out of the shameless process.
“I, as a leading aspirant, decided to stay away from the gathering for the basic fact that I got to know that the delegates’ list to be used at the governorship primary has been compromised.
“In short, the main delegates’ list sent from our great party’s National Secretariat had been corruptly compromised with names of non-delegates included and even to the extent of people impersonating the real delegates and illegally voting on their behalf.
“I could have attended the political event yesterday in protest, but I figured out that attending such would lead to a compromise of the peace of the people of Oyo State.”
