The former Governor of Oyo State, Senator Rasheed Ladoja and a former Deputy Governor of the state, Azeem Gbolarumi, among other critical stakeholders across different political platforms, may have tactically agreed to work for the flagbearer of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March 11, 2023 gubernatorial election in Oyo State, Senator Teslim Folarin, The Guardian reports.
Ladoja, who met with Folarin’s team, yesterday, was said to have directed his loyalists, traders and council of traditional rulers, among others, to work for APC in the coming governorship and state Assembly polls, scheduled to hold this Saturday.
Folarin also met with the South-West leader of the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP), Alhaji Bisi Olopoeyan, who confirmed his meeting with the APC gubernatorial candidate but said the endorsement would be announced officially on Thursday.
“We are still discussing. If necessary agreements are finalised and our members properly briefed, then we go public. We are yet to endorse but discussion has reached an advanced stage,” Olopoeyan said.
In a similar vein, the original members of Oyo PDP, led by Gbolarumi and a former Minister of Power and Steel, Elder Wole Oyelese, have also met with Folarin and the APC to deliberate on possible relationship ahead of the gubernatorial and state Assembly elections.
Gbolarumi, when contacted, confirmed the meeting, but said they were yet to endorse any particular candidate. Other parties Folarin and APC have met ahead of Saturday’s polls include Oyo State chapter of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), African Action Congress (AAC) and a faction of Labour Party (LP).
Chairman, Oyo APC Central Media Council, Presidential and Gubernatorial Campaigns Council, Mr. Kehinde Olaosebikan, said there were series of meetings ongoing among leaders of political parties in the state, saying that “latest by Thursday or Friday, the outcome of the meeting would be made public.”
