>
Governorship candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in Oyo State, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu has declared that no amount of alliance or merger by the opposition political parties in the state will stop his victory in the March 2 governorship election.
Adelabu made this declaration in a statement signed by the spokesman of Friend’s of Bayo Adelabu (FOBA), Dr. Bayo Busari, a copy which was made available to journalists on Tuesday in Ibadan, the state capital.
Adelabu’s declaration comes after the campaign directors of opposition parties in the state issued a joint statement on Sunday to condemn recent political attacks on their candidates alleging that some the attacks were being sponsored to cow opposition in the state.
The forum of the Director-Generals of the campaign organisations includes those of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Action Democratic Party (ADP), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Alliance for Democracy (AD).
They explained that they came together is “to ensure that a free, credible and acceptable political process is put in place and ensure that we all have a voice and make the votes of the masses count. As at the last count billboards and campaign posters belonging to various Political parties, carrying the message of hope to the good people of Oyo state have been destroyed with reckless abandon. As stakeholders in the Oyo state project, we have decided to rise up to the occasion and put a final stop to the menacing attitude of those who think Agodi Government House is their birth right”.
But, Busari in the statement issued on behalf of Adelabu, said that even a merger of opposition parties can ot stop the APC governorship candidate.
His words: “We make bold to say that while members of the opposition in the state were engaging in discussing the person of Chief Adelabu, he has been busy engaging interest groups and the people of the state, intimating them with the major policies that his government was going to embark on immediately he is sworn in, to make life more meaningful for them.
“Members of the opposition, having seen the writing clearly on the wall have now gone into the panic mode, tinkering with an idea of aligning to confront Chief Adelabu.
“Their move is belated as it is coming when the good people of Oyo State have taken a decision to have the APC candidate as the next governor of the state.
“The opposition candidates were busy beating around the bush when Chief Adelabu was traversing the nooks and crannies of the state, day and night working tirelessly to win the confidence of the people, which he has eventually gotten.
“We are patiently watching in amusement to see how the people who could not bow for one another before they became political prostitutes will now sway the electorates whose minds are already made.
“They could not unite when they were seemingly members of two political parties, how will they do that now that their rejection at the polls has become imminent?
“Adelabu’s emergence on the political landscape of Oyo State is God’s own project and we believe that the good Lord who has seen him this far will crown his effort with resounding success, at the polls”.