Six out of the 11 gubernatorial aspirants who contested the All Progressives Congress primary election in Oyo State have officially rejected Senator Sharafadeen Alli as the party’s candidate.
The full list of 11 contestants includes Chief Adebayo Adelabu, Dr. Adewale Kareem, Dr. Muyiwa Gbadegesin, Barrister Akeem Agbaje, Engineer Hakeem Alao, and Senator Abdulfatai Buhari.
The other five aspirants who also ran in the primary are Engineer Rauf Olaniyan, Dr. Ayobami Lam-Adesina, Prince Musibau Asanke, Mr. Ololade Bakare, and Senator Alli himself.
The APC announced in a recent statement that it had selected Alli as its gubernatorial standard-bearer for the upcoming election.
However, a majority of the contestants quickly expressed their deep displeasure over the party’s choice of Alli.
The six aggrieved aspirants are Engineer Hakeem Alao, Engineer Rauf Olaniyan, Dr. Ayobami Lam-Adesina, Barrister Akeem Agbaje, Mr. Ololade Bakare, and Barrister Musibau Asanike.
The politicians claimed that the party leadership completely failed to follow due process during the selection of the candidate.
They made this declaration right after meeting with an APC reconciliatory committee, led by Senator Olufemi Lanlehin and Professor Taoheed Adedoja, which was set up to appease them.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Engineer Hakeem Alao insisted that the APC technically has no gubernatorial candidate in Oyo State because it has not fulfilled the provisions of the electoral law.
Alao stated, “We have intimated the committee of our grievances and we made our position known. Just like you have asked, that is there candidate, there is no candidate for now. And we have not fulfilled the provisions of the electoral law.”
He concluded, “We have made our position known to the committee and the committee is going to deliberate on it extensively. It is still a family. We are going to have a candidate at the end of the day. Whoever is picked at the end of the day, we are going to work with the person but as at now, we have no gubernatorial candidate in APC.”
