Four members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) State Congress Committee sent to Oyo State on Sunday narrated how party members held them hostage for four hours in Ibadan.
Four of the seven members – Diran Iyantan, Ralph Igbokwe, Olarewaju Edun and Abdullahi Kontagora – accused the Secretary of the seven-man sent from the National Secretariat of APC of singlehandedly conducted the State Congress.
Mr. Isaac Omodewu, a former commissioner under the administration of the late former Governor Abiola Ajimobi emerged the consensus state chairman in the congress.
They dissociated themselves from the State Congress purportedly held on Saturday, stating that the exercise violated the party guidelines set by the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led National Caretaker Committee.
The panel members said: “We arrived Oyo State on Thursday 28th October to conduct the rescheduled State Congress of the APC in Oyo State
“On Friday 30th October, we attended a stakeholders’ meeting of the party at the party secretariat in Oke Ado, Ibadan where we briefed stakeholders on the Congress Guidelines.
“The Chairman of the Committee, Alhaji Lawan Gambo, among other things, handed over a Delegates List to the State Chairman of the party, which he said was handed over to him at the National Secretariat.
“There was controversy on the authenticity of the list at the meeting.
“We also wish to state that the instruction of the National Secretariat was for us to guide the process of election of state executives by consensus.
“On Saturday, 30th October, some protesting members of the APC who were complaining about alleged falsified Delegates List blocked access to the apartment in which we were accommodated in Jericho, Ibadan.
“After several hours of futile attempts to escape from the blockage of the protesters, the four of us successfully escaped from the apartment.
“We were, however, surprised to learn later that a congress was held in Ibadan suo-moto by the Secretary of our Committee who did not have our Authority to that effect.
“We further state without equivocation that none of us was present at the Liberty Stadium where the purported Congress took place
“We are also aware that the Chairman of the committee and the seventh member, Mrs. Peace Chikelue, could not attend the congress as well due to security reasons.
“We wish to clear the air that we were not part of any congress purportedly held in Oyo State by the APC on Saturday 30th October 2021.
“We urge the national party to take steps to address the acrimony in the party to avoid the mistakes of the last election.”
Meanwhile, the Oyo Progressives Liberation Front (OPLF), a group within the APC in Oyo State, has commended the party state chairman, Chief Akin Oke, for exposing alleged irregularities in the congress delegates’ list.
Its Coordinator, Dayo Aiyegbajeje, commended Oke for exposing the falsified delegates’ list presented to him by Alhaji Gambo Lawan, the Congress Committee Chairman, saying it takes courage to do so.
The party’s congress in the state had been postponed more than three times over alleged manipulation of the delegates’ list by a group within the party.
Oke, had earlier on Friday in a statement, described the list brought by Alhaji Gambo Lawan, State Congress Committee Chairman, as “a falsified document”.
The congress rescheduled to hold on Saturday at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium in Ibadan, further deepened the crisis in the party as four of the five groups within the party boycotted the congress over alleged irregularities.
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