Barring any last minutes’ change of plans, Raji Ahmed and Adebayo Adelabu would be named the nominees for Oyo state in the about-to-be formed federal executive council, FEC, OYOINSIGHT.COM can authoritatively report.
Though both are alumni of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, Ahmed, a senior advocate, hails from Iseyin while Adelabu is from Ibadan. While Ahmed who is the president of Okeogun Development Consultative Forum, ODCF, isn’t a politician, Adelabu was the governorship candidate of Accord in the 2023 election in Oyo State. In 2019, he was the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
OYOINSIGHT.COM had initially reported that ministerial and Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, slots.
Keen political observers had thought that Teslim Folarin, candidate of the APC in the 2023 election would get a ministerial slot.
Sources told this newspaper that while Raji is a nominee of a top Nigerian apart from being one of the lawyers in the election petition case of Bola Tinubu, president of Nigeria, Adelabu has his longtime friend— Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos governor and others behind him.
“Bayo Adelabu is being backed by Lagos governor and other friends. They are leaving no stone unturned. And you know Tinubu and Baba Akande know him, especially being the candidate of the party in the 2019 election. He was actually Sanwo-Olu’s friend from their days in the banking sector. When Femi Pedro was leaving the banking sector to join politics as Tinubu’s deputy, he asked the two of them to follow him. Adelabu said he prefer to grow on the job while Sanwo-Olu left. Adelabu rose to the top at First Bank before becoming deputy governor at the CBN while Sanwo-Olu was the boss at Lagos State Property Development Corporation, before governor in 2019,” added the source.
”Raji is a top professional in his job. He is highly networked. Left for him, he isn’t that interested but they want him to come use his expertise over the years to shape things. He is loved by many, especially his kinsmen. His law firm pays one of the highest remuneration in the country. He is also soft spoken, an attribute that endears him to many,” continue the source.
There is however disquiet in the camp of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state as to what would be their benefit for canvassing support for the party in the last election, which made the state to record the highest votes for the party in the whole of southwest.
