The Oyo State chapter of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has inaugurated a 45-member State Executive Committee through a consensus arrangement, dismissing a parallel congress held by a rival faction in the state.
The newly constituted executive, led by Hon. Jimoh Afees Adelowo, emerged during the party’s state congress held on Saturday at the Watershed Event Centre, Old Ife Road, Ibadan.
The exercise marked the climax of earlier ward and local government congresses conducted across the 33 local government areas of the state.
A three-man Congress Committee from the party’s national headquarters in Abuja, led by former House of Representatives member from Osun State, Rt. Hon. Olalekan Rasheed Afolabi, supervised the congress and ratified the appointment of the executive members after their names were read to party loyalists.
The committee urged the new leadership to work assiduously towards ensuring victory for the party in the 2027 general elections at all levels, including federal.
Key members of the executive include Deputy Chairman, Remi Abidogun; Oyo South Senatorial Chairman, Alhaji Fatai Adelakun; Oyo Central Senatorial Chairman, Simeon Adegboye; Oyo North Senatorial Chairman, Alhaji Ajibade Khalid; Youth Leader, Daud Temitope; Legal Adviser, Oyebidi Shared; and Chief Whip, Isiaka Tijani.
The congress also endorsed 12 national delegates, among them Hon. Kamil Akinlabi, a former member of the House of Representatives; Chief Adegoke Adegboyega; and Chief Bisi Ilaka, among others.
However, in a parallel development, a faction of the party led by Alhaji Yinka Olona held a public meeting at the Oke Itunu area of Mokola, Ibadan, at the same time.
Olona, who had been steering the affairs of the party prior to the coalition arrangement at the national level, convened what he described as a special public meeting at the ADC State Secretariat, located at No. 9/11, Alawode Crescent, behind the State Veterinary Hospital Complex, along Oke Itunu/Army Barracks Road, Veterinary, Mokola, Ibadan.
According to him, the meeting was aimed at receiving and approving the harmonised report of search committees mandated to identify credible members for nomination into leadership positions at ward, local government, and state levels in Oyo State.
Reacting, the consensus exco chairman, Hon. Afees Adelowo, dismissed the parallel gathering, stating that those at the party secretariat were “just wasting their time,” adding that “their time has expired in March.”
“They have just gone away but will come back later. They are those who were there before we woke up the party. Those recognised from Abuja are the ones here. We are here for an appointed congress directed from Abuja. The ADC is gradually becoming a movement. Reports from the 33 local governments are ready to be taken to Abuja,” Adelowo said.
He affirmed that the Congress Committee from Abuja had officially “sealed and approved the consensus appointment of the 45-member officials” of the party in Oyo State.
