The National Working Committee of the African Democratic Congress on Wednesday maintained that Senator Olufemi Lanlehin remains its Oyo State governorship candidate.
The National Chairman of the ADC, Chief Okey Nwosu, said during a press conference in Abuja that the announcement had become necessary because of the controversy that Lanlehin’s candidature had generated.
Some party leaders and aspirants in the state were said to have endorsed Dr Nureni Adeniran as the candidate of the ADC recently.
However, the party’s chairman said Lanlehin would fly the flag of the ADC in next year’s election even as he stated that the former lawmaker’s name would be submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission on Thursday (today).
The chairman said, “In line with our earlier press statement on the issue of ADC’s governorship candidate in Oyo State, the National Working Committee wishes to announce that Senator Olufemi Lanlehin remains the gubernatorial candidate of ADC in Oyo State.
“We have had to revisit the issue to ensure that we accommodate all concerns from various quarters. We have had meetings with all the stakeholders of our dear party, including aspirants at all levels of elective positions.”
“This was meant to ensure that the choice of Senator Lanlehin satisfied the aspirations of all party leaders, members and stakeholders of our great party, including a broad spectrum of the good people of Oyo State.
“Following the deliberations and consultations, the party’s decision on Senator Lanlehin has been ascertained to be the best for ADC and especially the good people of Oyo State. All the polls taken so far have pointed to the fact that Lanlehin is the Oyo State governor in waiting.”
Nwosu said in view of the controversy generated by 12 governorship aspirants of the party in Oyo State, and their request to make an input in choosing a consensus candidate, the ADC gave them the chance to make a recommendation and they recommended Dr Nureni Adeniran.
He said Adeniran had been dropped by the Screening and Primary Committee because of his failure to meet financial obligations (Expression of Interest and nomination form), lack of constituency support and inability to prove adequate financial capacity to fund the governorship campaign/election.
He, therefore, questioned the motive of the 12 aspirants.