Adelabu also labelled the APC primary that produced Senator Teslim Folarin, as the party’s candidate as a mockery of democracy
By Kehinde Okeowo
All Progressives Congress ( APC) chieftain and former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Chief Adebayo Adelabu, has disclosed he left his job at the CBN to actualise his dream of becoming a governor of Oyo State.
The former banker also announced he will be temporarily parting ways with his party, APC, after losing the party’s governorship ticket to Senator Teslim Folarin.
Adelabu, who lost the Oyo guber election to the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, Seyi Makinde in 2019, made this known during an emergency with his followers after his loss on Sunday.
The gubernatorial aspirant revealed that his supporters advised him to dump the APC after a compromised primary and he took the advice.
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He added that he and his group will make the political party under which he will actualise his political ambition known to the public soon.
Adelabu said, “My followers have asked me to leave the APC, I have left the APC.
“We will sit down with our leaders to decide on the political party to join. We will come back to the APC after winning the governorship election, because we are progressives.
“It worked during the time of late Senator Abiola Ajimobi, he left the Action Congress and went to All Nigeria Peoples Party and later came back to Action Congress of Nigeria.
“Just give us 48 hours to get back to you to announce the next political party to join.”
He went on to insist he would contest the governorship election in 2023 under another party because that was the reason he left his illustrious career.
He added, “All I can tell the whole world for now is that I am going to contest in the 2023 general elections as a governorship candidate, no matter what. This is the only reason why I left my groovy career as a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2018.
“No amount of intimidation, threat, or harassment can stop me from my passionate ambition of revolutionising the political, social, and economic landscape of Oyo state through machinery of government.
“As of today, I am not a member of SDP or any other political party as being widely circulated by media organisations. Appropriate steps will be taken after consultations in due course”
Adelabu had earlier described the primary election conducted by Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi-led electoral committee as a fraudulent exercise, claiming it was postponed to perfect riding.
“What happened at Liberty Stadium Oke Ado at the governorship primary election of the APC is nothing but a show of shame and mockery of the APC internal democracy. I fully dissociate myself from such mockery of our political system.
“The one day delay in conducting the primary was meant to enable them perfect their act of manipulation as nothing stopped the committee from conducting the election on the original date fixed. This foul play was quickly noticed by me, hence my decision to opt out of the shameless process,” he said.
However, the winner of the primary election, Senator Teslim Folarin, through his media aide, Yekeen Olaniyi, refuted Adelabu’s claims, stating that the process which produced him was free, fair, and credible.