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The state congress of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State which was rescheduled to hold on Saturday, October 30, is facing another serious threat.
It was gathered late Friday evening that the delegates list to be used for the congress was found to have been manipulated at the national headquarters.
The list was delivered to the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the party, Akin Oke, at the party’s state secretariat, Oke-Ado, Ibadan around 5pm by the Gambo Lawan-led congress committee. But after a careful scrutiny, it was discovered that many names have been substituted at the national headquarters.
A reliable source within the party said, ‘the list was not just manipulated, the manipulation was dirty. It won’t be acceptable to members.”
To quickly rescue the situation, it was learnt that Oke has called an emergency meeting of stakeholders for 9am on Saturday ahead of the exercise.
Oke, according to the source, reasoned that the situation may get out of hand at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium when authentic delegates find out that their names have been substituted.
It is not clear if the last-minute parley can save the situation.
The alternative solution is for Oke-Ogun Zone 1 to produce a consensus candidate for the position of state chairman in order to create room for mere affirmation of all candidates at the stadium on Saturday. The area, to which the position was micro-zoned, has been unable to produce a consensus candidate. Whereas most other zones have produced consensus candidates micro-zoned to them, four aspirants in Oke-Ogun 1 have remained resolute in emerging as the candidate for the position.
The congress was postponed on October 16 due to the manipulation of delegates list.