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Some top leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Southwest are currently in a secret meeting with Moshood Adeoti, the candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) in the September 22 Osun governorship election, in a bid to bring him back to the party before the polls.
A source privy to the political moves tells Newspeakonline that the party was doing all it could to make all those who left the party aggrieved after last month’s primaries, return to bolster the ranks of the APC as it battles the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the forthcoming election.
While Chief Iyiola Omisore is candidate of the SDP, Senator Ademola Adeleke is the candidate of the PDP. According to our source, the APC believes that with the calibre of rivals to its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola, the party cannot afford to see Adeoti and others working for the opposition.
Last week, there was a report that the ADP was in consension talks with SDP ahead of the election, with some claiming that Omisore had agreed to step down and put his structure behind Adeoti. Although Omisore denied the report, the APC, it is understood, is not taking chances.
READ: Osun guber: Omisore denies pact with ADP, says “I’m in the race to win”
Adeoti, a former Secretary to the Osun State government was one of the 17 governorship aspirants who contested for the APC ticket in the July 19 primary. Despite withdrawing from the race a day before the primary, he managed to score 128 votes.
In a letter addressed to Abdul’aziz Yari, chairman of APC primaries committee and governor of Zamfara, Adeoti said he was withdrawing because the primary had been skewed to favour Gboyega Oyetola, Chief of Staff to Governor Rauf Aregbesola.
If Adeoti reaches agreeable terms with the APC leaders, he might return to the ruling party before the end of the month to support Oyetola.
Meanwhile, a suit filed to disqualify the PDP candidate, Adeleke, from the race owing to controversies surrounding his academic qualifications, has been dismissed by the Osun state High Court sitting in Osogbo.
The court, presided over by Justice David Oladimeji, on Wednesday said though the “document” submitted by Senator Adeleke has “some serious and damaging irregularities,” the court can’t stop him from contesting the Osun State governorship election as plaintiffs failed to prove the forgery allegation preferred against him.