- Uzodima Tells Davido Uncle Will be Sacked August 15
- Edo Governor Mocks Adeleke for Dancing
Governors of the All Progressive Congress are not leaving any stone unturned in their determination to swell their ranks by adding Osun to one of the states in the party’s kitty.
The governorship election holding on Saturday August 15 is seen as a must-win for the party in order to increase the number of governors elected on the platform of the party from 31 to 32.
NPO Reports that apart from governors originally elected on the platform of the party at the centre, many others who got elected on the platform of other political parties such as the Peoples Democratic Party had defected to the ruling party making it the party with the widest spread across the country.
Events of the last few days have shown the determination with which APC governors, who come under the Progressive Governors Forum, currently led by the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodima, are approaching the election to be held in the next one week.
NPO Reports reliably gathered that the APC governors, especially those in the South-West which are Lagos’ Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Bola Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti and Lucky Ayedatiwa of Ondo, have been working round the clock in the last three weeks to soften the grounds for their candidate in the Osun election.
It was gathered that the Ondo State governor was specifically saddled with the task of gathering intelligence on strengths and weaknesses of both the party and the candidate in Osun ahead of the poll.
Ayedatiwa’s task, NPO Reports learnt, was specifically directed by President Bola Tinubu, who was said to have been concerned about the popularity and acceptance of the party’s candidate.
Recall that a video of one of the party’s chieftains had surfaced earlier in the year where he leaked the discussions the President had with aggrieved candidates of the party who were disqualified from the race.
In the video which went viral, Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi, an insurance magnate and founder of Mutual Benefits Assurance, had said in a video that Tinubu told disqualified aspirants when he met them at the presidential villa that he had made up his mind to work with Governor Adeleke moreso when the Osun Governor had declared his support for his (Tinubu’s) re-election bid.
In the video, Ogunbiyi had said that Tinubu alleged that it was former Governor of Osun and current Minister of Marine and Blue Economy who insisted that the party did not need Adeleke to retake Osun, which was lost under him in 2022.
Ogunbiyi had further revealed in the video that Tinubu grudgingly said that left to him, he would prefer Adeleke continues but said it was up to Oyetola and his team to go and slug it out with Adeleke if they have what it takes to defeat him.
The Ondo Governor, it was gathered, has been feeling the purse of stakeholders allegedly sending people to get information for him with a view to determining how best to approach the Osun task.
“He just wishes to know what the true position of things is,” said a source close to the matter.
When Oyebamiji was brought to the Lagos House, Marina, last week to meet APC governors and other top leaders of the party, one of the issues said to have been raised was the alleged lukewarm disposition of one of the national leaders of the party to the it’s efforts to retake Osun.
The alleged lukewarm attitude of one of the national leaders who also hails from the state, is said to have given party leaders some worries about what the said national leader knows about the party and its candidate that makes him appear withdrawn from the campaigns.
It was also gathered that an article written by one of the aides of the National Chairman of the Party, Prof Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, last month where he expressed doubt about the readiness of the party to win the election gave leaders of the party some concerns.
In the article, the National Chairman’s aide had disclosed how he travelled to Osun, where he also hails from, and interacted with the grassroots only to find out that the Accord Party had become so popular that it would be hard to defeat Adeleke.
The last one week has witnessed open attacks on Adeleke by some of the APC governors.
Watchers believe the moves are aimed at discrediting Adeleke and make him unelectable before the Osun voters ahead of August 15.
When Afrobeat singer and nephew of Governor Adeleke, David Adeleke popularly called Davido, stormed Osun on Wednesday he had appealed to the Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum not to allow Osun to become a battleground or one to make a political statement.
Thinking he could count on the fact that his wife, Chioma hails from Imo state, Davido had said,”We have mutual connection and I have a deep connection to Imo state. My wife, Chioma, is from the state which made this appeal more sincere.’
However, what Davido got in response was an advice to be prepared to sign his Uncle, Adeleke, on as one of his dancers.
As if Uzodima’s comments were not enough, his Edo state counterparts, Monday Okpebolo, had mocked Adeleke for his dancing enthusiasm.
‘Before he signs papers, he will dance. Are you not tired? For four years, this man has been dancing.
‘Before he takes breakfast, he will dance.
‘I was asking my friend now and he said I can’t even remember when last I saw this man in our general meeting in Abuja.
‘Before he even enters the plane, he will dance. Before he gets there, they have closed. He doesn’t know the reality of today.
‘A governor that is not working, the best gift for him is to send him out of that state’ Okpebholo said.
A week to the election, APC governors are said to be working to ensure that no matter how popular Adeleke is said to be, he does not get enough vote to declare him the winner of the election.