By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan.
Governor Abiola Ajimobi has declared that there will be no room for “rigging or vote manipulation of any sort” during the next month (February) local government elections in the state.
The governor who stated this while speaking at the empowerment programme by Senator Monsurat Sumonu held at IITA in Ibadan, also insisted that he is still in charge and as well the leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC in Oyo state.
He emphasized that his administration is committed to having a free and fair election come February this year, adding that there is the need for APC members in the state to work hard in order to win the election because he “will neither promote nor tolerate rigging or vote manipulation of any sort”.
“To those who are already saying they will hijack the party structure from Ajimobi, let them know that I am still in charge , I am the leader of APC in Oyo state , I inherited the party executives and they are my people so let nobody fool you” he said.
He asked APC members in Oyo State to remain united as there should be nothing like SENACO or LAMISTS within the party but that “everyone is a member of the same one family, APC”
“As the leader of the party I can boldly say that there is no LAMISTS nor SENACO in APC, those who are promoting those groups are jobless. I am Senator Abiola Ajimobi who formed SENACO and it is dead, the same with Lam Adesina group, LAMIST is dead too, so let everybody speak and operate as a member of indivisible APC in Oyo state “
He advised that to avoid crisis in the APC before the local government poll, the party should adopt either “the consensus or the indirect primary option for candidate selection rather than the direct mode which is fraught with a lot of disadvantages including unwieldiness, violence and higher cost of management.
“I am still interested in the party even after leaving office as the governor, I want APC government to take over from me, and this can only happen if we are united, I beg you in the name of our predecessors right from the time of Late Chief Awolowo, Bola Ige and my uncle Lam Adesina, let us work together. Let us also embrace those who are just joining us, we are the only formidable party in the state, other party are already in disarray and that is why some of their members are coming to our party, let us not think of what they have done to us in the past but embrace them and work together as one united party for victory in the forthcoming election”.
Governor Ajimobi while commending Senator Sumonu for her commitment to her constituents urged other legislators from the state to follow her footsteps in public service.
