BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
The National Committee for Local Government Congress of the All Progressives Congress in Osun State on Monday said it has compiled the results of the congress held in all the 30 councils and one Area Office in the state.
The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye who announced the results at a press conference in Osogbo, disclosed that the results were compiled and announced in line with the Constitution of the party, having satisfied all the constitutional requirements and party’s principles and guidelines.
He also declared that there was no Congress in Osun other than the one the Committee conducted and that was monitored by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and security operatives.
Elegbeleye, therefore, described as illegal, null and void results of any other purported congress held in the state. He added that the Committee was sent by the national secretariat of the party to conduct LG congress for Osun APC and not a group within the party.
Recall that some aggrieved members of the party who had formed a caucus named, The Osun Progressives, held their election separately while the party was having its consensus mode on Saturday. The chairman of the caucus, Adelowo Adebiyi, had claimed that his group won 27 councils out of the thirty local government areas in the state during the parallel congress.
But Elegbeleye insisted that his committee was not informed of any other Congress except the one he and other committee members witnessed and supervised across the State.
He described as fallacy, the purported claims of another Congress held by some members of a group in the party, saying, “An election can only hold if the dissenting members sufficiently and appropriately informed the Committee of the need to do so.”
He added that “the Committee resolved to hold a Stakeholders’ meeting as part of efforts to register their presence in the state, ratify the decision of the leadership of the party as to either a consensus arrangement or election would be adopted and inform any member or group of people in the party who may opt for election, the need to do so, having properly being informed as the case may be.
“We have the results of the 30 Local Government Areas and Ife-East Area Office with us. We were here yesterday (Sunday) for the compilation of the results coming from the Local Governments.
“As you all know, we are here to conduct the Local Government Congress for All Progressives Congress in Osun State and not for any group. We were sent by the National Secretariat, Abuja to come and conduct Local Government Congress for APC in Osun and not for a group or members of a group in the party. And not a single member of this Committee is aware of any group in the party as being speculated.
“All we know at the Secretariat is that there is one APC in Osun, that is why we were sent to conduct the Congress, and as you can see, we are at the Secretariat of the party not elsewhere. This is the party Secretariat known by the leadership and every member of the party,” he said.
