Adebayo Adelabu, the Gubernatorial candidate of Accord in Oyo State, has said that the party lost the state’s national assembly elections because of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s tsunami.
Adelabu stated that Tinubu’s tsunami was a significant reason why the party’s Senate and House of Representatives candidates failed in the recent presidential and national assembly elections.
Adelabu, a former deputy governor (operations) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), made the remarks during the inauguration of the party’s caretaker committee in Oyo state.
During the inauguration of the caretaker committee, the National Chairman of the party, Muhammad Nalado, was represented by the National Legal Adviser of the party, Maxwell Ngbudem, and the National Vice Chairman South West, Alhaji Dokun Babarinde.
Alhaji Isiaka Salami will serve as Chairman of the committee to guide the activities of the party till a congress is conducted, while Mr. Bashiru Ayobami will serve as Secretary. Hon Fatai Salawu, Mrs Bimpe Martins, and Hon Ayodele Oyajide are the other members.
Adelabu stated during the committee’s inauguration that one of the reasons for the party’s inability to win senatorial and house of representatives elections was Tinubu’s popularity, who ran on the All Progressives Congress platform.
When commenting further, the Accord candidate stated that it was frustrating because after the party candidates had spent so much money campaigning and mobilizing for the election, the Tinubu tsunami caused them to lose at the national assembly elections.
He went on to say that the party’s candidates spent close to N3 billion on campaigning.
The ex-CBN deputy governor detailed the candidates’ experiences at the hands of the previous administration owing to their selfish interests.
He said that INEC’s one-week delay of the governorship was a blessing in disguise for the party.
“There are a multitude of reasons why we lost the presidential and National Assembly elections because to Asiwaju’s tsunami,” Adelabu explained. No candidate campaigned harder than our National Assembly candidates. The vote was given for Asiwaju, not the APC. That was for Atiku, not for the PDP. And not LP for Obi. It was about people, not parties.
“There is no dividing line between us. We are one and will always be one in our party. As a political party, the main goal is to run for office and win, not to engage in political maneuvering. We chose Accord from the APC because we regarded it as the next popular party to reach and spread after the other two major parties.
“The forthcoming governorship election too would be about individuals and not parties. We have spent over N3billion by all our candidates put together since we joined the party till date. What the sacked excos did amount to betrayal and backstabbing. It is not unexpected but we could not tolerate”.
