Following a secret meeting with National Leader of All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu days ago, former Governor of Oyo State and Action Democratic Party (ADP) gubernatorial candidate, Otunba Alao-Akala has rejoined APC back in Oyo.
APC National Chieftain, Bola Tinubu, and his people have successfully negotiated with ex-gov Adebayo Àlàó-Akálà, the ADP gubernatorial candidate to support the APC gubernatorial candidate, Adebayo Adelabu in the forthcoming Oyo governorship election comes March 9th.
Both Adelabu and the PDP candidate, Seyi Makinde hail from Ibadan. Their votes would expectedly divide. This deal, which its cost has not been fully revealed is expected to give the APC access to bloc votes from the Ogbomoso region of Oyo State.
It’s perhaps the best strategy following the ‘heavy’ losses APC suffered in Oyo State as a result of internal hatred for Governor Ajimobi last Saturday. They may have increased their chances of winning with this
He said: “It is true. Both of us have been meeting and we will continue to meet. I will call you in 24 hours to let you know the state of things.”
A source close to Tinubu said: “Tinubu and Alao-Akala met on Tuesday. Tinubu asked Alao-Akala, who has many supporters in Ogbomoso, to collapse his structure into that of Adelabu. We know that if Alao-Akala was in our camp, there was no way Atiku would have had such a good outing in Oyo State, especially Ogbomoso.
“The PDP governorship candidate, Seyi Makinde, is popular and he is also an Ibadan guy like Adelabu, which means that they will both split the votes in Ibadan. The APC will need to forge an alliance with elements in Ogbomoso to get an advantage.
“We knew that the people were not too happy with the governor as far back as June 2018 when the PDP candidate, Adebo Ogundoyin, won Ibarapa-East Constituency by-election which was held to fill the vacant position created by the death of former speaker of the House of Assembly, Michael Adeyemo. Alao-Akala had made some demands but Ajimobi did not play the politics right. Also, Ajimobi’s decision to convert some chiefs to full monarchs was unpopular among many people.”