News - Oyo ACN crisis deepens, faction names

[TGD]

 • Party alleges incitement of traders by opposition

THE leadership crisis rocking the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Oyo State deepened Thursday as some party chieftains adopted former Secretary to the State Government, Michael Koleosho, as the ACN leader in the state.

Earlier in December 2012, some party leaders drawn from 11 local councils in Ibadanland, have endorsed Governor Abiola Ajimobi as the leader of the party following the death of erstwhile governor, Lam Adesina and also adopted him as the party's standard-bearer in the 2015 gubernatorial polls.

Ajimobi's endorsement polarised the party as some candidates said to be eyeing the governorship seat in 2015 kicked against the action of the group.

A reconciliatory meeting was held at the instance of the governor to bring aggrieved party chieftains back to the fold and forge a way forward ahead of the 2015 polls.

But while the reconciliatory moves were going on, some party leaders held a meeting yesterday in the state capital and named Koleosho as the successor to the late Lam Adesina.

The party chieftains, in a communique issued at the end of the meeting, expressed concern over the development within the party, warning that the negative consequences of the happenings in the party portend great danger ahead of the forthcoming polls.

The leaders, drawn from the 11 Ibadan city and less city local government areas, unanimously adopted Koleosho as the state leader of the party and affirmed "the natural leadership succession process within the progressive family, which has never been in dispute," adding that attempts by certain individuals to force leadership on the party was alien to progressive tradition.

The forum also condemned the adoption of Governor Ajimobi and any public office holder for second term, describing such calls as distractive, premature and unnecessary.

At the meeting were Alhaji Isamotu Ashiru (a.k.a Baba Leader), Dr. Adeniyi Adelakun, Elder Kolawole Adeosun, Tunji Adeoye, Pa Olayinka Adeleke, as well as the immediate past Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Mr. Kazeem Adedeji.

The leaders stressed the need to return the party to the path trod by true progressives like Chief Obafemi Awolowo who put the people's welfare at the epicentre of governance.

While condemning the alleged dissolution of party executives in some local councils, the group in the communique signed by Adeosun, accused some party leaders of using divide and rule tactics, which they said, have polarised members and caused distrust.

"The forum affirms the supremacy of the party and reiterates that the interest of the party is greater than that of individual or individuals. We condemn all acts and activities designed to heat up the polity by some self-serving individuals and groups without regard to the overall interest of the party.

"The forum commends the resilience, commitment and conviction of members of the Action Congress of Nigeria in the state despite the present setbacks and challenges. We urge them to pursue the restructuring of the party, which is long over-due in a most civilised manner devoid of acrimony or violence, but in a manner that will showcase the progressives as a disciplined and law-abiding crop of politicians committed to the wellbeing of the society."

Also, the state ACN has raised the alarm that a prominent leader of one of the opposition political parties in the state has been inciting traders against the Governor Abiola      Ajimobi-led administration.

The party, in a statement issued in Ibadan yesterday by its state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Dauda Kolawole, alleged that the politician had held several nocturnal meetings with the traders with a view to causing disaffection between them and the state government.

Specifically, the party said the leader, whom it described as lacking in credibility, held a meeting with traders at Ogunpa Market recently where he discredited the urban renewal programmes of government as one aimed at deliberately inflicting pains on the people of the state, particularly traders.

"Even with the wide accolades that Governor Abiola Ajimobi has been receiving in his administration's urban renewal programme, which has brought radical changes to the aesthetics of Ibadan and other parts of the state, the politician has been embarking on campaign of calumny against the government.

"His sole aim is to set the state on fire and disrupt the peace, which the people of the state have been enjoying since the coming on board of the present administration," the party said.

According to ACN, the politician, who recently caused to be produced an inflammatory CD attacking the government for urban renewal efforts, was said to have reckoned that at the rate the Ajimobi government was going, its popularity in the area of changing the face of the state would make his 2015 governorship ambition unsellable.

It, however, urged the traders to be wary of the antics of the politician, explaining that government was not out to punish anybody through its urban renewal programme but to save the state from the stigma of being the dirtiest state in the country.

The party explained that the Ajimobi government had embarked on massive construction of neighbourhood markets within the Ibadan metropolis where those who had hitherto been trading on the streets would be located.

It said that work had been intensified on the N1.3 billion ultra-modern Scout Camp Market at Challenge where traders who had been selling under Molete Bridge and Challenge Roundabout, who have been given spots to trade in the market, would be resettled.

Besides, ACN said that no fewer than eight other similar markets were currently being built by the state government within the Ibadan metropolis.

The party also said Governor Ajimobi had directed all the 11 local councils in Ibadan to construct at least three markets each, adding that work had already begun in some of the markets.



The Guardian