From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
Former council chairmen in Osun State have advocated zoning of the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to Osun West Senatorial District.
The ex-local government chairmen, numbering about 41, also dismissed rumours of the gubernatorial ambition of the National Secretary of the APC, Ajibola Basiru.
Chairman of the forum, Hon. Aderemi Abbas, who read the communiqué signed by 41 members at Iwo on Wednesday, explained that the agitation for the zoning was pronounced in case the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, decided not to run again.
Noting that the APC won 6 out of 10 LGAs of the district despite the PDP candidate being from the zone, the forum posited that Osun West remains the stronghold of the APC in the state.
The forum, which explained that nobody from other districts has declared their intention to contest, stated that the claim that the APC national secretary is contesting from the Central is false.
“The National Secretary of the party has never come out to say he wants to contest for governor, he has never addressed anybody, and we have never heard that he is coming out to contest, so claims that he is behind it are ill-conceived.”
“Our agitation is not against any individual but issue-based. Even during the presidential election, the northern elders and governors agreed to zoning of presidency to the south for cohesion, stability and unity,” the forum said.