Some supporters of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Oyo State said the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost in the state due to the infighting within the party.
The supporters under the auspices of the Disciples of Justice (DOJ) formerly known as Disciples of Jagaban said that the personality of the governorship candidate, Senator Teslim Folarin was “a big minus.”
National Coordinator of the group, Comrade Hakeem Alawuje at a press conference in Lagos said many members of the progressives’ family were sidelined in the build-up to the March 18 governorship election and Folarin surrounded himself with old PDP members.
He said the APC candidate usurped his opportunity and that it would not be proper to begin to agitate for a ministerial position.
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He, however, appealed to all aggrieved members of the progressive family that left the APC “to peacefully return to the fold because there is no place like home.”
“Let the rebuilding process commence in earnest, so as to forge an understanding that is mutual, enduring and beneficial to the party, our teeming members and the good people of Oyo State, at large,” he said.
When contacted, a media aide to Folarin, Yekini Olaniyi denied the allegations levelled against his principal, describing the group and their sponsors as “idiots”.
He said all the tendencies in Oyo APC structure including all former deputy governors in the state were carried along in the campaign, which ensured the victory of the party in the Presidential election.
In the case of the governorship election, he said it was crystal clear that APC didn’t lose the election to Makinde but APC members negotiated Folarin out of the race.
He also challenged the group to provide evidence of Folarin lobbying to be appointed a minister in Tinubu’s government.