Nigeria Content Online

The
Oyo State governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, at the weekend, faulted media
reports alleging that he walked out on the national chairman of the
Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Okwesileze Nwodo, at a meeting he held
with the latter in his Abuja office last Thursday.

The governor, in a
telephone chat in Ibadan on Sunday, described the story as untruthful
and calculated to bring him to disrepute.

He said he did not
leave the chairman’s office until he completed his mission there,
adding that Mr. Nwodo was well aware of his exit.

Mr. Alao-Akala also
explained that his visit to Abuja was not prompted by any
reconciliation move on the crisis in the party, as reported in the
media, but done to congratulate the chairman on his appointment as
number one member of the party.

“It was unfortunate
the way the media portrayed my visit to Wadata Plaza. First, I was
never summoned. Second was the fact that the visit was at our instance,
and third, we were warmly received by the national chairman who, in the
cause of the visit, had to invite other members of the national working
committee of the party,” he said.

“I remain a
committed party member, and that informed our visit to the national
chairman and second, I am a humble personality, which is the reason I
had to go for the visit, even in company of one of my predecessors in
office, Kolapo Ishola, who incidentally is a colleague of the national
chairman when he was the executive governor of Enugu State.” Mr. Akala.

He said he
suspected that the journalists covering the PDP national headquarters
might have taken an offence with his refusal to entertain question from
them, before going for the meeting, saying the act was not deliberate.
Advising journalists to always report issues accurately, the governor
said that is the only way to nurture the nation’s nascent democracy to
maturity.

“The media report was unfair to me, but I thank God that the national secretariat had come out to refute the story,” he said.

Meanwhile, a leader
of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State, Lekan Balogun, has
advised Mr. Alao Akala to be careful about the likelihood of pushing
the state towards a state of emergency by his actions.

The Ibadan high
chief, who spoke with journalists at his Alarere, Ibadan residence, at
the weekend, expressed worry about the many political and industrial
crises going on in the state, and warned that if proper care is not
taken, such situations could erupt into a crisis capable of breaching
the peace of the state.

Mr. Balogun said by
courting the ‘illegal’ Dejo Afolabi-led PDP executive and sidelining
some prominent members of his party, allowing his disagreement with the
teachers’ union to degenerate into a strike, as well as fighting with
the poultry farmers association, the governor has already made the
state ungovernable for himself.

State of crises

“If this state must
witness peace and harmony, Alao Akala needs to bring all the warring
camps together, reconcile all aggrieved members, and introduce sanity
into the political system,” he said.

“He must listen to the voice of reason from all quarters, and free himself from sycophants milling round him.

“If he fails to do this, then a state of emergency is inevitable,” he cautioned.

His views on the
governor’s relationship with some elders of the party was based on the
controversy trailing his meeting with Mr. Nwodo, in Abuja last
Wednesday, where Alao-Akala allegedly stormed out on the party boss who
reportedly told him that his state does not have a legally-constituted
executive committee.

“I believe the NWC
has no choice than to concede that Oyo State has no executive. We do
not have. The members parading themselves as executive members are
self-imposed and illegal, because they did not evolve out of any
congress. They were not properly and legally elected.

“There was even a
court injunction against them, and the INEC confirmed this in writing.
The NWC is in the know of this, hence the decision that a broad-based
party executive must be put in place”, said Mr. Balogun.

However, in his
reaction to Balogun’s note of caution, the governor, through Dotun
Oyelade, his special adviser on public communications, said the call
“smacks of debilitating idleness.”

“Apparently
dissatisfied that his earlier similar calls have been roundly ignored
by everyone whose attention he craves, the former senator has become a
butt of joke in political circles where he is referred to as ‘casino
politician’ for his wanton unpredictability.

“He is flawed on all grounds of his allegations, not only because
they lack merit, but for the kindergarten reasoning. Obviously calling
on the federal government to reek a state of emergency based on
frivolous premise is a disrepute to civilised opposition,” the terse
reaction concluded.