Oyo APC Needs Coordination, Not Imposition, Adelabu Not Our Party Leader — Opaleye

Former Ibadan South West Local Government Chairman and All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Hon. Gbenga Opaleye, has faulted attempts to project Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, as the leader of the party in Oyo State, warning that such moves could deepen the leadership crisis rocking the APC.

Speaking in a radio interview with Captain P2 on 32FM, Opaleye argued that leadership in the APC is not earned by ministerial appointments but through hierarchy and political structure.

“The emergence of leaders in our party should not be because someone has become a minister. Is it by being appointed a minister that one automatically becomes leader of the party? If that is the case, then we would have had many leaders in the past, such as Bayo Shittu, who also served as a minister. But a minister cannot automatically become leader of the party, it is not in the APC constitution,” he said.

The APC stalwart maintained that the constitution of the party recognises former and sitting governors as the natural leaders of the party in any state, not ministers or aspirants.

“Leadership in APC emerges by position and hierarchy. If we have a former governor, automatically he is our leader. If we have a sitting governor, he is our leader. You cannot be a leader and at the same time an aspirant of the party, it is simply not possible,” Opaleye declared.

He also lamented what he described as a lack of coordination in Oyo APC, adding that experienced figures like former deputy governors have been sidelined instead of being empowered to provide direction.

“We have former deputy governors who can also serve as party leaders. Even if it means appointing from the top, at least there would be someone to coordinate and command us. Right now, we have leaders, but none that can direct us and say, ‘this is where we are going.’ The people with the right antecedents to lead, like former Deputy Governors such as Alake Adeyemo and others, are not being empowered or made relevant,” he noted.

Opaleye further criticised what he called external interference in the affairs of Oyo APC.

“Instead, someone has now come from Osun to impose himself as leader and scatter things for us. This is not the way to build the party,” he warned.