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Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has dismissed claims that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is planning to impose him as the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate in Oyo State for the 2027 election.

Speaking with journalists in Ibadan over the weekend while hosting APC executives, ward chairmen, and party leaders from Ibadan South East Local Government at his Iyaganku residence, Adelabu emphasised that the party will conduct a proper primary election when the time comes.

“The best candidate will emerge through a transparent process. There will be no imposition,” he said.

Adelabu questioned the credibility of the rumour, stating that it was unrealistic to believe the president, who is responsible for the affairs of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, would be concerned with imposing a governorship candidate in one state.

He stressed his belief in healthy competition, saying, “Whatever is good is not meant for one person alone. Competition brings out the best in people.”

He said, “Im ready to engage in healthy competition that will not lead to hatred and bad blood so that at the end of the day, after the primary elections when winner would have emerge, there will be good platform for reconciliation and other aspirants that lost will not lose everything but there will be way of compensating everybody with nominations and appointments and no one go home without having anything.”

He stated that President Tinubu would never sow discord in any state, as all party aspirants are his political children. 

He added that even if the President has a personal preference for a particular aspirant, he cannot interfere in the process or come to the state to cast a vote for that individual.

He said, “The best advise President Tinubu will give me is to go back to my state to work and win people to my side which I have stated, and it will be obvious to everybody that whoever eventually got the governorship ticket actually worked for it and I have started the work now.

He described President Tinubu as a true democrat, who believes in the voice of the people and the followership.

He said, “Nobody can do any top down validation or top down imposition of an aspirant as the candidate of the party, that will be the beginning of failure. People want to see that any aspirant that emerge as candidate of the party is voluntarily elected, and that is what I’m preaching, nobody will impose anybody. 

“There wasn’t any imposition in 2019 when I emerged as candidate of the party, I emerged in a kneely contested primarily. I did the most work because my campaign was the most flamboyant and energized one then.

“In 2019 elections, we went to all the 33 local government of the state, we engaged everybody, at the end of the day, we almost have a consensus, some aspirants stepped down for me, those who didn’t stepped down, after discovering at the mid of the primary that the voting was going in my direction came out and stepped down for me, that was how I won overwhelmed with almost 100 percent votes of members of the party.

“I’m used to that, I know what it takes to win primary election in a progressive party, you must work, tell people your plans, programmes, your mandates and manifestos, they must see that you have something in stock to move this state forward, not just for the state alone but also members of the party.

“I know it’s not going to be an easy task, but with my experience in the last two elections, I’m more than up to the task that is at hand.”

Speaking on the outcome of the meeting, Adelabu said the meeting was in continuation of his 2027 gubernatorial ambition, consultation and engagement with the party, to canvassed for their support and informed them of his gubernatorial ambition.

“Today’s meeting is a consultation meeting with all the local government executives, ward chairmen and leaders of our party in Ibadan South East Local government to inform them about my ambition to run for governorship in the next general elections.

“This is my local government and where my family from, so, I needed to carry them along and let them know that our aspiration is being renewed. The meeting was like a family gathering, we reviewed our journey so far from 2019 to 2023.

“I’m glad that the aspiration received 100 percent endorsement of all the stakeholders, they promised their support and to do everything possible to ensure that governorship come back to Ibadan South East Local government by 2027.

“I thanked them for the support and endorsement and to have identified themselves with my aspiration, we are not a new comer in this game, we tried it in 2019, we missed out narrowly, we tried it in 2023 with a minor party, we saw the outcome, 2027 is going to be bigger and more serious and receive mass endorsement across the state and the journey has began.

“From next week, I will begin consultation tour to all the leaders in the seven geopolitical zones of the state.”

In his remark, the Oyo South Senatorial chairman of APC, Alhaji Mojeed Olaoya said members of the party will stand by whoever emerged as the gubernatorial candidate of the party come 2027.

He said there will be total and genuine reconcilation in the party, saying the party has learnt from 2019 and 2023 elections when the party lost to the opposition due to division within the party.