The chairman of the reconciliation committee of the All Progressives Congress in Oyo State, Alao Akala has revealed that the seat of power in the state is open for the APC to grab in 2023.
Akala, a former governor of the state, said this on Saturday while addressing party members at the first reconciliation meeting of the party in the state.
Speaking further, he maintained that he is currently not in support of any gubernatorial aspirant in the state.
“I am for nobody. Nobody should attach me with any candidate because all politicians are free to come to me,” he said.
Speaking on the need for the party to reconcile ahead of the 2023 elections in the state, Akala said: “We should not fight when we are not in office. If we fight while in office, we will know it is for appointments.
“Everybody must have a say from the ward to state level but to do that we must have a formidable party and to have a formidable party we must all work.
” The most important thing is for the party to move forward. Fortunately for us we in are in the opposition and those not in the opposition are not getting it right.”
At the reconciliation meeting which was held at the Amazing Grace home of Alao Akala, various groups and stakeholders took turn to express the grieverances they have with the leadership of the party in the state and way forward.
One of the stakeholders, Senator Teslim Folarin lauded the committee for its efforts because reconciling a party is not easy.
Speaking on the call by some members of the party that the Executive of the party in the state should be dissolved, Folarin said: “I have been in the party for a year, I don’t have a representative in the Exco. Senator Buhari does not have a representative in his 13 local governments. I don’t even have a councillors hip slot then but we have to put that aside.
“Ajimobi is my good brother, where is he today? Audu Abubakar won but died on the Election day. We should leave the Excos for now. The issue is that we are at a crossroad and no one owns the party.
” APC is an hybrid. The challenge is that how would we work together but luckily in the leadership of Akala we have someone who can lead us.
“You all know my history with him but the truth is that a leader is a leader. He is my leader.”
He also revealed that Alao Akala was reluctant to lead the reconciliation committee of the party but he is the only one qualified to lead.
Speaking after all grieveance have been heard, Akala charged all members of the party to put aside their aspirations at the moment and build the party.
