The Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Chief Akin Oke, has appealed to aggrieved members of the party to rescind their decision to dump the party.
He said they should allow for reconciliation in the overriding interest of the party.
Oke made the appeal while inaugurating the 35-member state executive committee of the APC, at the state party secretariat, Oke-Ado, Ibadan, on Thursday.
Rather than joining any other political party where they would be treated as newcomers, the chairman appealed to those concerned to team up with the APC mainstream to build the party and put it in a good stead ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The aggrieved members were said to have mulled defection to another party after the inauguration of Oke as the state chairman by the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, on Monday.
Oke reiterated that since the party was jointly built to attain victory in the two previous general elections, the aggrieved members should reconsider their stand and not allow anything to put the chances of the party in jeopardy.
The chairman added that the party would swing into action to reconcile the aggrieved members and bring them back to the mainstream.
He said: “As directed by the leader of the party in Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, we will all work within our capacity to ensure that peace finally returns to the party.
“Since members of the reconciliation committee will derive their powers from the party, it is expedient for us to inaugurate the state executive council today. Otherwise, it will be futile for us to set up any committee that will not have any constitutional backing.
“I can assure you that we will do all within our powers to ensure peace. Whatever it will take, we will ensure that peace returns to the party. I’m appealing to them to bury the hatchet in the overriding interest of our great party.
He said that conflict was a normal phenomenon in any political party that was in control of a state and the centre governments, adding that the APC was big enough to accommodate all shades of opinions.
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Oke added: “I am, therefore, using this occasion to appeal to some of our leaders and supporters who are aggrieved to please reconsider their positions.
“We are appealing to them not to go to any other party. As progressives, we know conflicts always arise within the party, especially when the party has the control of both the state and the centre.
“Let us remain within the party to solve our problems. And by the grace of God, I am sure we are going to overcome these trying times and come out of it stronger.”
Members of the executives who took the oath of office administered by a legal practitioner, Mr. Segun Abayomi, included Hon. Lekan Adeyemo (Deputy Chairman); Hon. Mojeed Olaoya (Secretary); Arikewuyo Rasaq (Vice-Chairman, Oyo North); Chief Solomon Akindele (Vice-Chairman, Oyo Central) and Prince Ade Adekanye.(Vice-Chairman, Oyo South).
Others were Mrs. Mabel Williams (Woman Leader); Isiaka Aare-Okuta (Youth Leader); Mrs. Toyin Akintade (Assistant Woman Leader); Mrs. Ibrahim Faosat (Assistant Youth Leader) and Mr. Taiwo Ige (Welfare officer).
