Adekunle Sijibomi
The Action Congress of Nigeria in Oyo State received a major boost on Thursday as the political clout of ex-Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala suffered another huge loss when a principal political leader of Ogbomosholand, Chief Bayo Bankole, dumped the Peoples Democratic Party for the ACN.
Bankole, who was the state’s Commissioner for Finance in the administration of Alao-Akala, led well over 5,000 supporters in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State to join the ACN.
The event took place at Ikoyi-Ile, the home town of the political stalwart,and was filled with pomp and glamour.
Bankole is a kinsman of Alao-Akala and served in his administration for the first 11 months and later in the whole of the four-year term between 2007 and 2011.
With his decamping, it is evident that the ex-governor is fast losing his grip in the Ogbomosho politics thought to be his stronghold.
Speaking at the ceremony, Bankole noted that he is “uprooting PDP from Oriire Local Government and Ogbomosoland in general.
“I literally planted PDP in Ogbomosoland as far back as 1998, way before Akala became a politician.”
He said the PDP has been hijacked by elements “who lack the discipline and the character for effectively running a political party.
“We are leaving the party for them to join a better platform.
“We cannot coexist with people who bamboozle our people and do not appreciate the need for progressivism.
“We have seen the committed works of development that the ACN is doing in the state and we cannot but team up with the party for the development of our people.”
Receiving those who decamped, Senator Ayoade Adeseun described Bankole as an absolute catch for the ACN, saying with his addition to the party, “the ACN has waxed stronger.
“Chief Bankole is incomparable in the politics of Oriire Local Government and Ogbomosholand in general.
“There is no political office holder from that local government that did not pass through his tutelage at one time or the other.
“He literally schooled them in the arts of politics.
“His crossing over to the ACN will improve and change the political landscape of Ogbomoso and Oyo State at large.
“We are making Ogbomosho part of the South West agenda.
“It has been long that Ogbomosho people have belonged to the conservative wing and this has no benefit to us.
“We have learnt from the terrible experience we had in the Akala administration.
“We are liberating Ogbomosho from the hand of captors such as Akala who are wicked, deceitful and greedy rogues.
“He is an ingrate, we, Bayo Bankiole and I, made him governor in 2007.
“But he turned against us because we were trying to put him on the right path.
“The PDP has nothing to do in the South West again.
“Regardless of any restructuring or rebranding they do to that party, the ACN is adequately prepared to ensure that their days in the backwaters is forever.
“We are breaking the South West from the stronghold of the gluttonous overbearing centre controlled by charlatans in the name of PDP.
“With Chief Bankole’s decamping, Oyo PDP and ex-governor Akala in particular have lost the most relevant player in Ogbomoso politics.
“With this recent development, the PDP is fast losing grip of the political lanscape of Ogbomosho thought to be Alao-Akala’s stronghold.”
The event, filled with pomp and fanfare, witnessed the presence of Hon. Timi Adibe, Chairman Oyo State Sports Council; the Caretake Chairmen of Ogbomoso North, Ogbomoso South, Orire, Surelere and Ogo Oluwa Local Government Areas; as well as state and local government areas executives of the ACN in Oyo State.