Oyo 2019: Alao-Akala submits governorship nomination form, denies defection

For a former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo state, the news making the rounds of his purported meeting with former President Olusegun Obasanjo allegedly to defect from the ruling All Progressives Congress to the rival African Democratic Congress was nothing but figment of the imagination of the writers of such story.

Alao-Akala, erstwhile Governor of the state on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party and 2015 gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party, officially defected to the ruling APC in 2017 and had since been oiling his political machinery to contest again in 2019.

Reports on Monday quoted a meeting purportedly held between Obasanjo and Alao-Akala, where the former directed him to jettison his 2019 governorship ambition on the platform of the APC and pick the senatorial ticket of Oyo North in the recently rejuvenated ADC.

But to underscore his readiness for the APC ticket, the former governor on Monday left Ibadan for Abuja to submit his governorship nomination form ahead of the party’s primary.

A press statement signed by the Head, New Media and Public Affairs, Alao-Akala Campaign Organisation, Jeremiah Akande, denied the move, stressing that the former governor was not considering dropping his ambition or dumping the APC.

The statement said: “The Media and Publicity Directorate of Alao-Akala Campaign Organisation after a careful study of the said report and analysed the disjointed and unfounded information pieced together in the body of the story came to a professional conclusion that the idea behind the report was a mere publicity stunt aimed at laundering the image of the political party in question.

“Alao-Akala as an experienced politician who has tested the murky waters of politics and who is well schooled in the rules of engagement is too busy with his campaign activities and will not engage in any form of media war or propaganda involving any group, body or political party.

“The campaign organisation of Alao-Akala wishes to once again reiterate His Excellency, Alao-Akala’s unshaken commitment and dedication to the ideals of the APC in Oyo State and at the national level and urge his teeming supporters to remain steadfast and resolute in their belief in him, as the journey towards 2019 begins in earnest.”