By Desire Emmanuel
A showdown seems to be looming in the Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the endorsement of the senator representing Oyo South, Chief Sarafa Alli, as the consensus candidate of the party in the 2027 governorship election in the state.
Currently, some aggrieved chieftains are at loggerheads with the leadership of the party over the endorsement, as they insisted that such a move may cost the party the governorship seat.
In fact, the immediate-past Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, who has also declared his governorship ambition, on Saturday, May 2, alongside some other chieftains, rejected the endorsement of Alli.
Adelabu and some of the party chieftains were said to have held a meeting on Saturday afternoon at the Ibadan South-East Local Government office of the party where they described the endorsement of Alli as hasty and unnecessary.
Sources at the meeting told Impact Nigeria News Online on Saturday evening that party chieftains present, including Alhaji Mufutau Adisa Gbayawu, Alhaji Isiaka Alimi, Alhaji Wale Sanusi, among others, distanced themselves from Alli’s endorsement as the party’s candidate.
At the meeting, Adelabu warned that endorsing an aspirant as the party’s consensus candidate was against what President Bola Tinubu told party leaders in the state to do.
The sources added that Adelabu insisted that the president asked the leaders not to endorse anyone and that the aspirants should go for direct primary in choosing the candidate.
He said the desperation of the leaders who endorsed Alli would not only weaken the chances of the party in the elections, but might also cause loss of many votes for President Tinubu in the state.
He lamented that instead for APC to unite as a party so as to win 2027 elections in the state, some people in the party are bent on weakening the party’s strength through what he described as a “kangaroo endorsement.”
Adelabu said: “The president had said we should go for direct primary in choosing the gubernatorial candidate of the party in case consensus option fails. Whoever says President Tinubu has endorsed any aspirant as the party’s consensus candidate is not telling the truth.”
