A group of stakeholders from the Oke-Ogun zone of the All Progressives Congress has openly rejected what it described as an attempt to impose a candidate ahead of the party’s forthcoming state congress.
In a statement jointly signed by the group’s chairman, Ayantunde Akintunde, and secretary, Sola Aremu, the Oke-Ogun APC caucus said it would not accept the emergence of former deputy governor of Oyo state, Alake Adeyemi, as state chairman through what it called an exclusionary zoning process.
Alake who served as a two term deputy to former governor, Late Abiola Ajimobi, is believed to be a front line contender for the chairman of APC in Oyo state ahead of the 2027 general election.
The group made this known in a statement on Monday evening and obtained by by Westernmirror.com.ng.
The group, made up of party members across all ten local government areas in Oke-Ogun, said it had been closely monitoring developments leading to the congress and grew concerned by decisions allegedly taken without representation from the zone.
According to the statement, the six-member zoning committee responsible for key recommendations reportedly has no member from Oke-Ogun, a situation the group said undermines fairness and internal democracy within the party.
“Why should a committee without any Oke-Ogun representation decide for us?” the group queried, insisting that such an arrangement was unacceptable to party faithful in the zone.
The Oke-Ogun caucus further demanded that all ten slots allocated to the zone be forwarded to its acknowledged leader, H.E. Chief Iyola Oladokun, to allow stakeholders within the area to determine their distribution.
The group stressed that its position cuts across age and interest groups, noting that both youths and elders within the party are united in rejecting any form of imposition.
Westernmirror.com.ng reports that the development adds another layer of tension to the ongoing zoning stalemate over the composition of the new State Executive Council, with indications that disagreements among party blocs could test the APC’s internal cohesion ahead of the congress.
The state Publicity stunt Secretary of the APC, Olawale Sadare, had earlier disclosed that the party’s Congress would hold on Tuesday, March 3 in Ibadan, the state capital.
As of the time of filing this report, party authorities at the state level had yet to respond officially to the Oke-Ogun group’s claims.