A chieftain of the Oyo State All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Olufemi Lanlehin (Solan) has told Chief Niyi Akintola, SAN to leave him out of whatever battles he is waging.
Lanlehin, while reacting to the interview granted an Ibadan-based radio station by the learned silk, wherein he gave accounts of discussions between them, in attempts to justify some assertions he (Akintola) made on the programme, contented that all Akintola needed to do was to maintain whatever position he believes in, without necessarily dropping the names of others to lend credence to his position.
Lanlehin, who recently served as Chairman of the party’s Reconciliation Committee, in a personally-signed statement, insisted all Akintola said on the programme about him, were nothing but pure distortions, gross misrepresentation and fabrication of facts.
The statement reads: “I have been inundated with calls from friends, supporters, loyalists and all those interested in the affairs of our great party, the APC, seeking clarification on some issues raised in an interview granted Fresh FM Ibadan, by Chief Niyi Akintola, SAN, wherein he made some statements regarding our interaction on the situation of our party, especially regarding my assignment as Chair of the party’s Reconciliation Committee.
“While I’m a bit reluctant to engage him in a series of back and forth as that’s not really my style, I, after deep introspection, believe I should, for the sake of posterity, and for the education of members of the public, to whom I owe the truth, as a distinguished progressive.
“Truth is, I deliberately avoided reaching out to Chief Akintola, as I did with nearly all of our party’s governorship aspirants, solely because I know that given the type of person he is, whatever we discuss, will eventually be open to distortions, fabrications and gross misrepresentation of facts, once he speaks on same in the public thereafter.
“Unfortunately, all I feared have eventually happened, as Chief Akintola has succeeded in distorting all we discussed to suit his private motives, and probably confuse the unsuspecting public.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Chief Akintola was the one who called me, towards the end of our Committee’s assignment, and the kernel of our discussion was my appeal to him to vent his misgivings, after which I sued for peace and requested for his suggestions on how to move our great party forward.
“At no time did I tell him of any bad outing in any part of the state, and I make bold to say, that our Committee’s engagements in all the seven zones of the state were very successful. Not only did party leaders and members turn out in large numbers, they also laid bare their grievances, and put forward useful suggestions on the way forward.
“As an experienced politician, I know reconciliation is an ongoing assignment, even till election day, never a once and for all thing, and that in the end, true progressives and loyal party men and women always align in the interest of the party and of the state to do that which is right.
“I can only, therefore, appeal to my learned aburo to fight his battles alone, and desist from dropping my name to justify his private motives while waging his war of attrition. As an experienced politician, he is at liberty to play his politics as he deems fit. As for me, with an impeccable integrity, my style of politics is advertised in my commitment to worthy causes, I cannot, at this stage of my life, deviate from principles which have served me thus far. I, therefore, dissociate myself from whatever Chief Akintola provided as being the outcome of our interaction, as they in no way are,” the statement maintained.
