A socio-political advocacy group, BSA Voice of Reason has cautioned former member of the House of Assembly, Hon. Segun Olaleye fondly call Radical Brother to desist from blaming Oyo All Progressives Congress, APC leaders for his political failure.
The group through a statement made available to FRESHPAGE by Sola Abegunde detailed how the primary election that produced party’s candidate was arrived at, stressing that no one cheated Radical Brother at the primary.
Below is the full statement;
For some days now, we have been watching Hon. Olusegun Olaleye ( Radical) and his bitter reactions towards the loss of a House of Assembly ticket to Hon. Steve Adeyoju.
At first, we tried to understand his frustrations and we sympathized with him, even though, we were highly critical of his immature reactions to the loss.
We could not fathom, what could have driven a two time member of the Oyo State House of Assembly to be going around the streets, cursing and abusing imaginary enemies.
We restrained ourselves from reacting to the very shameful action of Hon. Olaleye who was seen in viral video, raining abuses and curses on individuals and the party, based on spurious allegations.
However, after listening to his outburst on a popular Radio station in Ibadan this morning, it became apparent that we need to set the records straight and correct the wrong impressions that Hon. Olaleye have been trying so hard to create in the minds of unsuspecting members of the public.
First, we wish to place it on record that, contrary to Hon. Olaleye’s assertion, the guidelines released by the National Headquarters of the All Progressives Congress, APC, states that the only two ways the candidates for the party would emerge either through consensus or direct primaries.
This position is in line with the just amended Electoral Act.
Contrary to Hon. Olaleye’s misconceptions, consensus arrangement could only be achieved, if all the aspirants willingly withdraw from the contest, leaving out only one of the contestants.
This voluntary withdrawal must be in writing. It is true that in the wisdom of the party at the state level, a ten-man committee was set up to explore the option of consensus across all the 33 Local Government Areas.
In the case of Ibadan North Constituency II, which Hon. Olaleye is angry about now, the committee could not persuade any of the aspirants to step down for a single contestant.
The fact that some of the members signed up for different aspirants is an attestation to this facts.
We sympathize with Hon. Olaleye because, he was obviously misled to believe that once a larger number of that Committee signed up for him, then, he has become the anointed candidate. That insinuation is wrong.
In the first place, that Committee he kept referring to has no force of Law. The Electoral Act does not recognize such a Committee. Not only that, the Constitution of the party does not talk about a Committee which would have the power to enforce Consensus.
Consensus arrangement is based on voluntary withdrawal by individual candidates and once that didn’t happen, the only available option is to settle the issue of candidature through direct primaries and that is exactly what happened in Ibadan North Constituency II.
The party at the state level acted in good faith when it constituted the Committee but once they could not achieve consensus, the only available option left is direct primaries.
Now, we want Hon. Olaleye to answer this question, why didn’t he began his evangelism of ” opin de” before the primary election?
Why did he agree to participate in the primaries when he knew that his candidature was sacrosanct?
We urge the general public to please disregard the unfounded allegations Hon. Olaleye have been leveling against prominent personalities within our party, most especially, the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi, Her. Excellency, Chief Mrs Florence Ajimobi, Senator Sharafadeen Alli and Hon. Sina Alabi.
Chief Mrs Florence Ajimobi is not from Ibadan North Local Government. Why would anyone bring her name into a political calculation in Ibadan North Local Government?
Senator Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli and Hon. Sina Alabi have maintained a close relationship with Prince Niran Adeyoju SDM for decades.
Will they break their age long relationships just because Steve Adeyoju is contesting for a House of Assembly seat?
We are not so worried about the lies he has been spreading all about because his allegations are all based on hearsays.
” They said, we heard”.
We want to appeal to Hon. Olaleye to take notes of the fact that he already has adult children and we will be surprised if his children would be proud of him in the future.
Sola Abegunde
