- Details Of His Deal With Gov. AJIMOBI & TINUBU
When former Oyo State Governor, Otunba Alao Akala declared for the APC a few weeks back, many political watchers were shocked. Many wondered why Akala, a very tactical and brilliant grassroot politician would leave the PDP for APC.
They also wondered why Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC strongman was physically present at that event along with all the key players in Oyo APC like the Governor of Oyo state.
That Saturday, December 16, 2017, all roads led to the historic Mapo Hall at Oja’Aba, Ibadan, where Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of the All Progressive Party, APC, and former Governor of Lagos State, received, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala into the ruling party. Alao-Akala, led notable members of PDP, his former political party, and his loyalists from Accord Party, AP to the APC.
Among the several thousands of PDP and Accord members that decamped to the APC along with Alao-Akala were: former Deputy Governor and former Ambassador to Jordan, Taofeek Arapaja; former Secretary to the State Government, Ayodele Adigun; former Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin; Segun Odebunmi, representing Ogo Oluwa/Surulere Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives; former member of the House of Representatives, Folake Olunloyo; former Speaker of Oyo State House of Assembly; Asimiyu Alarape; former PDP Chairman in the state, Yinka Taiwo, and former local government chairman, Demola Ojo.
Others are 4 members of Labour Party, LP in Oyo State House of Assembly, including Oladimeji Olawumi and Akande Solomon, representing Ogbomosho North and South respectively, and Olagunju Ojo representing Oriire. All the APC chieftains said that the mega decampment of the two major opposition parties in the state laid credence to the fact that APC no longer has any opposition in the state.
According to Tinubu: You can now see that there is no opposition for APC in Oyo State? The opposition parties are finished. What is important today is that we now have a clear picture of what will happen in the 2019 election in this state. Today has shown that the electorate will return APC government at the 2019 poll. In the forthcoming election, APC must win Ogbomosho, Oyo, Ibadan people. You must vote for APC”. Tinubu noted that the day and the occasion were very significant as it was the birthday of the governor of Oyo State and that it would go down in history as the day opposition ended in Oyo State.
In the same direction, Ondo and Osun State Governors, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola said that the only credible party in Nigeria is APC. Akeredolu said, “We are very sure that there is no opposition party in Oyo State. There is no more PDP and Accord. The two parties are dead”. Aregbesola said, “I am impressed today. I am impressed with the large turnout of people. The only party that wants the best for the people is APC. The other parties are parties of the thieves, robbers, rogues and exploiters”. In his speech, Governor Abiola Ajimobi, who expressed his joy over the quality of politicians that decamped to APC, tongue lashed his predecessor, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, whom he described as A Political Pensioner. He said, “There are 2 types of pensioners in Oyo State. One is the retired civil servants and the other is the retired politicians. For a serious politician, who wants to continue to work as a politician, you cannot afford to go to the political parties of retired politicians. Apart from APC, the other parties in the state are moribund and they are ‘Abiku’ parties”. He warned aspiring governorship aspirants in the state not to make a mistake of not recognizing him as a leader adding, “For those of you who want to be a governor in this state, come and see me. I am the ‘Anobi’ (Prophet), through which you can get to our political god (Tinubu). If you bypass me, you cannot get there”.
The decampees also took turn to speak. The first to call the shot was Alao-Akala who opened his speech by saying, “To God be the Glory”. He said, “There is no more PDP or Accord Party in Oyo State. Now, Oyo State is APC Party. Our leader, Tinubu, kindly tell the national people that Oyo State is for APC and it is the party that will win the next election starting from the local government to the federal level. Let me say this, I am not boasting, all the big politicians that are decamping today have one time or the other worked under me during my reign as a governor in this state. All my supporters across the state have decamped to APC”.
Lauding Governor Ajimobi, he said, “I salute my Egbon, Governor Ajimobi who is 5 months older than me. Ajimobi has really worked for the success you are seeing. Myself and my people will support Ajimobi. We will listen to him and we will be loyal to him”. Also Senator Teslim, who lauded Asiwaju Tinubu and Ajimobi for being good leaders said, “Ajimobi is the leader of politics in Ibadan, the same way Baba Adedibu was when he was alive. God made Ajimobi the governor of the state, but Ajimobi is not a politician. Recently when I was with him, Ajimobi was telling me how he will establish a farm. Currently, one of the major thing Ajimobi wants to do is to establish a farm. He is a business man to the core”.
Honourable Odebunmi, another decampee said, “I am the only politician who was elected to the House of Representatives during the last election but I am saying that it is not a good party. It is only APC that will care for the youth. Before we decided to follows Ajimobi, we did a research and we are convinced with the result we got. We found out that APC is the only party that has plan for this country and for Oyo State”. Also, Honourable Alarape said, “I am happy to return to APC, a progressive party, where I started from”. The occasion, which was witnessed by a mammoth crowd, also had in attendance, the wife of the Governor of Oyo State, Florence Ajimobi, the national officers of APC in the South West led by the former Governor of Ekiti State, Engineer Segun Oni, deputy national vice chairman, Pius Akinyelure, other national scribes from the North, and several party loyalists.
What this shows is a political realignment in the state City People can tell you a lot about this political realignment in Oyo politics. Many political watchers still can’t believe that the former Oyo Governor, Otunba Alao Akala could go back to APC. Recall that in 2014 December, he defected to the Labour Party in Oyo State due to internal irregularities in his former party, PDP. Not only that. On 10 December 2014, he formally declared his intention to re-contest the governorship election of Oyo State on the platform of the Labour Party in the February 2015 general elections in Nigeria. During his declaration of intent, all other party gubernatorial aspirants stepped down for him, thereby making him emerge as the Labour party, governorship flagbearer in Oyo State.
For the past 2 years Akala has been linked to APC in Oyo State. He has become very close to the Oyo State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi. They were recently seen in London where they met and took a picture together which went viral immediately. There were 3 of them in the picture. Gov. Ajimobi, Akala and former Senate leader. Teslim Folarin who is also from Oyo State. The story in town all this while has been that Akala was already in APC and he was most likely going to formally join APC and run for Senate come 2019. But its no longer Senate. He is going for governorship.
But why didn’t Akala go back to PDP where he has been for many years? Its because the Makarfi led exco of the PDP did not accede to his terms months back. Shortly after the Supreme Court judgement which ratified his Chairmanship, over that of the competing chairman, Makarfi visited some states to meet with aggrieved party big wigs, to ask them to come back to the PDP. One of such states was Oyo State. On his visit to Oyo State, he met with old PDP chieftains, like former Oyo State governor, Alhaji Rashidi Ladoja. He also met with Otunba Alao Akala during the rigorous session he had with Ladoja, Makarfi told Ladoja to come back home and leave the Accord party where he is now, a party which he built from the scratch. At the meeting Ladoja was said to have laid bare his terms and Markafi had told him matter-of-factly to come over to PDP with his supporters to come and realise his political dream. Ladoja was said to have told Makarfi to give him sometime to consult widely on the matter. But in general terms Ladoja didn’t see anything wrong in accepting the offer.
About the time Makarfi met with Ladoja he also met with Akala, who was a bigwig in the party until he left. Makarfi also made the same offer to Akala for him to come back to PDP now. We gathered that when Akala went into the meeting with Makarfi he was willing to embrace the offer to return to PDP but on one condition: the party structure would be made to accommodate him and his loyalists. So accommodating was Akala that he was even willing to work with the Ladoja group if both of them agreed to rejoin the party. Although he knew how difficult it would be to work with his former boss, Ladoja in PDP if they go back he was still willing to negotiate.
He felt if his former boss was giving 50% of the party structure, he (Akala) should be allowed to control at least 40% of the party structure. Whilst Akala recognised the fact that his former boss had a formidable structure, he too made a case for his own group because he was also coming back with his team. So, therefore, there was the need for the Makarfi leadership to accommodate his team.
All of these didn’t go down well with Makarfi who felt Akala was asking for too much. Both parties couldn’t agree amicably and Akala was adamant. Akala felt he was considerate in his demand as he had to take into consideration the interest of his team.
Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala, born June 3, 1950, was the former Governor of Oyo State, Nigeria. He is a former police officer from Ogbomoso in the Ogbomoso North Local Government Area of Oyo State. Young Adebayo Alao-Akala had his elementary school at Osupa Baptist Day School, Ogbomoso. From there, he proceeded to the Kamina Barracks Middle School, 5th Battalion of Infantry Tamale, Ghana.
On leaving Kamina Barracks Middle School, Adebayo Alao-Akala went to Government Technical College, Tamale, Ghana and Ogbomoso High School, Ogbomoso. Still in search of more knowledge, Otunba (Dr.) Alao-Akala capped it all with further studies at Nigeria’s premier high institution, the University of Ibadan.
For his efforts, Dr. Alao-Akala has in his kitty the First Leaving Certificate obtained in 1962, West African School Certificate (1972), ASCON Certificate (1985), Passed Staff College (Psc) 1990, Diploma in Business Administration (1998), Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) Honoris Causa, LAUTECH, Ogbomoso (2006), Doctor of Science (Political Science) Honoris Causa, Lead City University (2008).
He has been privileged to attend several career development courses. He enlisted as Cadet Inspector of Police in June 1974 at the Nigeria Police College, Ikeja. Following his brilliant performance, he was recommended for overseas training at the Metropolitan Police Training School, Peel Centre, Hendon, London. He has also attended the Administrative Staff College, Topo, Badagry; the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos; Police Staff College, Jos; Command and Staff College, Jaji. Otunba Alao-Akala has participated as a Nigerian delegate a two INTERPOL Conference in Nice, France and Malaga, Spain.
YEAR OF SERVICE
From the position of Station Officer in the Nigeria Police, he became Administrative Officer, Federal Operation, Federal Headquarters, Lagos and rose to the position of Operations Officer, FEDOPS, Lagos. The steady rise of Otunba Alao-Akala to fame and fortune reached its apogee when he became the Personal Assistant to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police and subsequently the ADC to the Inspector-General of Police.
From there onwards, Alao-Akala held several prestigious command positions in the Police Force. He was O/C Advanced Training Wing, Police College, Ikeja; Divisional Police Officer, Bode Thomas, Lagos; Divisional Police Officer, Iponri Police Station, Lagos; Railway Divisional Police Officer, Nigeria Railways, Ebute Meta, Lagos; Area Commander Western District, Nigeria Railway Police, Ibadan; CSP Admin.
Gongola State Command, Yola; CSP Admin. Kwara State Command, Ilorin; Assistant Commissioner of Police, Agodi Area Command, Ibadan, Oyo State Police Command, Ibadan. In September 1995, Otunba (Dr.) Adebayo retired from the Nigeria Police as Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Logistics and Supply, Oyo State Police Command, Eleiyele, Ibadan. It was, indeed, a meritorious service to his fatherland. Besides public service, Dr. Alao-Akala became the Chairman of ACALA Nigeria Limited, Private Eye Security Consultant and General Contractor. He is also the founder and Chairman of TDB Global Ventures, headquarter in Lagos, that has many branches in Ogbomoso and Parrot FM radio station in Ogbomoso, Oyo State.
POLITICAL LIFE
In the political arena, Otunba (Dr.) Adebayo Alao-Akala could be rightly described as a man with the Midas touch. He started his political career as a member of New Dimension, a political association on progressive young elements. He participated in the zero-party local government election of 1996 and later co-founded the UNP before its fusion with UNC to form UNCP.
In the 1997 local government elections, Otunba Alao-Akala sponsored the chairmanship candidate and seven councilors to victory on the ticket of the UNCP. He participated in the Ogbomoso Federal Constituency (One) primary election of the UNCP in 1997. He contested and won the chairmanship seat of the Ogbomoso North Local Government along with seven councillors under the platform of APP in 1998. He was elected Vice-Chairman of ALGON, Oyo State Chapter between 1999 and 2002.
A versatile and visionary political leader, Alao-Akala founded the Ogbomoso Unity Forum, a political association which later joined the PDP. He was the Executive Chairman of Ogbomoso North Local Government from 1999 to 2002.
A man of Destiny, Otunba (Dr.) Adebayo popularly known as “Omo Iya Alaro” became the Deputy Governor of Oyo State from May 2003 to January 2006. To crown his efforts in life, the almighty God who directs the affairs of man, took Otunba Alao-Akala to the pinnacle of his political career when he became the Executive Governor of Oyo State in January 2006, a position he occupied till May 2011.
On 8 December 2014, Otunba (Dr.) Adebayo Alao Akala defected to the Labour Party in Oyo State due to internal irregularities in his former party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). On 10 December 2014, he formally declared his intention to re-contest the gubernatorial election of Oyo State on the platform of the Labour Party in the February 2015 general elections in Nigeria. During his declaration of intent, all other party gubernatorial aspirants stepped down for him, thereby making him emerge as the Labour party’s gubernatorial flagbearer in Oyo State. His Excellency, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala is a polyglot. He speaks English, Yoruba, Hausa, (Twi, Fanti and Dagbani) and Ghanaian Languages fluently. And he is a widely travelled man.
