By Yusuf Adua
A chieftain of the APC has said the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu has no power to anoint a running mate for the forthcoming presidential election.
The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the party’s gubernatorial candidate, Senator Teslim Folarin, Honourable Yekin Olaniyi made this disclosure on Monday in an interactive with News Live Nigeria correspondent at the APC state secretariat in Ibadan.
” There are guiding principles binding our party at all levels. The status quo has and will not change”, YSO as he’s fondly called said.
He asserted that the All Progressives Congress had a model borne out of the merger that produced the party in 2014. Therefore, the party was not ready to jeopardise the existing symmetry.
“In 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari and Professor Yemi Osinbajo benefited from the CPC- ACN candidacy. But now, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has come from the ACN bloc, the other forces will determine his authentic running mate while consultations are ongoing “, YSO Olaniyi furthered.
On the competence of the party’s candidate, he felt that Asiwaju’s track records speak for themselves. In terms of competence, no candidate matches up with Bola Tinubu according to YSO Olaniyi.
Though he enjoined party members who fell off from the race to clinch party tickets across all levels in the state to embrace sportsmanship, he reassured the followers of the party that the decorum in the party at present is one they had not had in a long time.
APC’S CHANCES IN THE STATE
The party chieftain claimed that they were already mending bridges with all aggrieved camps though, his principal and the gubernatorial flag bearer of the APC, Senator Teslim Folarin wouldn’t be overly bothered about those whose consequences in the party are palpable.
” Someone who was presented with the party’s ticket on a platter and could not pull a string, if he really believes in the party he should have stayed and let us do this together”, YSO enthused.
This reporter understands that the gubernatorial candidate of the party during the 2019 election, Chief Bayo Adelabu was the point of reference therein.
CAN TKF WIN WITHOUT THE MASSES?
Responding to questions centering around the current Oyo Central senator winning the guber race without the support of the masses, the party chieftain said election had never been won without the owners of the polity.
“Anyone who says we won in 2019 without the masses or the media probably underestimated what we did before the election and our track records. Oyo state can still be better than this and that’s where my principal comes in”.
He disclosed that the APC is the missing Jigsaw in the governance of the pace-setter state and they had begun to regroup to take over from the present ” populist” government.