From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Olubadan-designate Senator Lekan Balogun has not endorsed the 2019 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, as his preferred aspirant for the 2023 gubernatorial race, as reported in a section of the media.
Senator Kola Balogun, representing Oyo South senatorial district at the National Assembly, made the clarification in a statement issued on Wednesday and made available to journalists in Ibadan, the state capital, by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Dapo Falade.
A section of the media had alleged that the Olubadan-designate endorsed Adelabu for 2003. He was quoted to have said: ‘My incoming president, look at this my son, Bayo Adelabu, will surely be elected as Oyo governor in 2023.’
But Senator Kola Balogun, who is a younger brother to the Olubadan-designate, explained that a presidential aspirant on the platform of APC and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, paid a courtesy call on Oba Lekan Balogun on Sunday, saying he actually spoke on behalf of Olubadan.
‘It is true that a presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, led a team on a courtesy visit to the new Olubadan of Ibadanland, Senator Lekan Balogun, last Sunday. However, it is a total falsehood that the Olubadan-elect endorsed one of the governorship aspirants of the APC in Oyo State, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, as his candidate for the 2023 elections,’ he stated.
‘The falsehood being reported on the social media in that regard is a figment of the imagination of those I can say are well entrenched in the art and act of lying. In the first place, Oba Lekan Balogun did not speak during the visit. I spoke on his behalf when Senator Tinubu led his team on the visit to kabiyesi.
‘During the visit, there was nowhere I or kabiyesi mentioned Adelabu or spoke of his endorsement as the preferred candidate of Oba Lekan Balogun for the 2023 governorship election in Oyo State.
‘I am a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Not only that; I am also a strong member of the party. How then can I speak on the endorsement of a candidate for the opposition party?’
He stated further that he was also surprised that those behind the fake news could say that the sitting governor in the state, Seyi Makinde, hails from Ilesa, Osun State, alleging further that Makinde could not be the governor of Oyo State again.
Balogun continued: ‘Again, such an insinuation is not only ludicrous but also another lie, which cannot be defended anywhere. Governor Seyi Makinde is not only a governor, but he is also a performing governor of the PDP, a party in which I am a very strong member.
‘Governor Makinde is just like a son to the new Olubadan of Ibadanland. He has access to kabiyesi, up to his bedroom and this is a fact that can be verified by anybody, who is genuinely interested in knowing the truth about the relationship between the governor and kabiyesi.
‘Moreso, Oba Lekan Balogun is an experienced politician and an academic of repute. He knows the implication of such a false narrative and he can never soil his hands with such a falsehood.’