The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, on Wednesday, pleaded with the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, to leverage the party’s recent victories in Edo and Ondo States to salvage Oyo from the grasp of Governor Seyi Makinde.
Adelabu made the appeal when he led a delegation of Oyo state executives and APC lawmakers on a courtesy visit to the National Working Committee of the party at its secretariat in Abuja.
While blaming the loss of the state to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party on their face-off, the minister assured the party leadership that Oyo APC has learnt its lesson by uniting all factions and aggrieved chieftains in the state.
He said, “So we want you to help us guide and support our state chairman so that he can also achieve the success you have demonstrated at the national level. I believe he shall learn. We are happy that for the first time, after the last elections, Oyo APC can now speak with one voice.
“There is no faction in Oyo State APC again and we are more determined than ever before to take over the governance in Oyo State. I believe we lost the last two elections, not to the non-popularity of the party in the states or due to lack of effort on our part, but to division. A house that is divided against itself will surely fail. Oyo State is an APC State. We all know that.
“In 2019, when I was the governorship candidate, we had divisions. We could not achieve effective reconciliation before the election. We had two senators and about 10 House of Representatives members. So you know that Oyo State APC is a grassroots party and it is a party of the masses.”
While praising Ganduje, Adelabu also extended the plaudit to President Bola Tinubu, who he said has shown courage and leadership since the day he was just inaugurated into office.
Welcoming the delegation, Ganduje stated he was happy that Oyo has succeeded in resolving its crisis and has shown enough commitment to reclaim the state.
He said, “Oyo is part of our blueprint which we call political party homogeneity. We have been looking for unity and uniformity in Oyo State, which we are now seeing. You should organise a mega stakeholders meeting in Ibadan that will involve all the members of the party to the point that the opposition will be intimated.
“We made it clear when we came on board that it will not be business as usual. We want your party offices from the ward, local government and state levels to be physically habitable and functionally operational by having constant meetings.
“That is how you can be connected and coherently alive and, more importantly, intimidate the opponents. The task before us and the 2027 general election is to recover all the House of Reps seats we lost through the death of some members. The seat belongs to the APC, and it is our duty to see that we recover it.”