The Oyo State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has threatened to expel a former gubernatorial aspirant of the party, Chief Adeniyi Akintola.
The politician, from Ido Local Government Area, while featuring on a radio programme in Ibadan, the State capital on Saturday, allegedly made some statements which discredited the party and its gubernatorial candidate in 2023, Senator Teslim Kolawole Folarin.
In a statement signed by Honourable Ismail Babatunde, Ward 9 Chairman in Ido Local Government Area, he alleged that the politician is making an attempt to cause disunity in the party.
The APC chairman also alleged that Akintola’s utterances have shown that he is working for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the State.
The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to the series of unguarded utterances made by Chief Niyi Akintola disregarding the Oyo State All Progressives Congress (APC) and its 2023 governorship candidate, Senator Teslim Folarin while featuring on a radio programme in Ibadan on Saturday.
“It is despicable that Chief Niyi Akintola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria whose conduct should be guided by his enduring experience and professional practice went on air to unleash denigrating remarks on a party that breathed life to his dying political career because he lost the bid to secure the party’s 2023 gubernatorial ticket.
“While he should have realized that he flunks every contest because of his lack of political will and acceptance, he blames everyone but himself for his shortcomings. This is not Chief Akintola’s first instance of moral turpitude. He adopted the same strategy in 2019 by eventually lending his support to Engr. Seyi Makinde. It comes as no surprise that he is once again playing the spoiler game.
“Akintola has a long history of betrayal dating back to his short-lived reign as Deputy Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, but one is tempted to believe that he has outgrown petulant emotions until he speaks and reinforces the fact that he is still bound by his natural instinct of peddling emotive assertions and telling barefaced lies. Decency has never been Akintola’s strong suit.
“He only gets animated during election season to source patronage for his usual transactional politics. His loyalty has always been up for auction and it tilts toward the highest bidder”.
“His disregard for the party and President Muhammadu Buhari which has always been in the full glare of the public was also on display throughout the radio programme. Akintola deliberately feigned ignorance of the President’s directive that all party members must work assiduously for the emergence of all candidates fielded by the APC across board because of the personal gains he seeks from his PDP dalliance.
“Chief Akintola’s anti-party acts, in addition to his documented unholy transactions, are enough to recommend his expulsion from the party; nonetheless, we will not rush to initiate the process. Instead, we are strongly warning him to retrace his missteps”.
“If Akintola does not maintain decorum and heed this warning, we will not hesitate to recommend his expulsion from APC before he causes irreparable harm to the party and its candidates” the statement concluded.
