From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan

There was a little drama in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Friday as supporters of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, booed the deputy governor, Alhaji Bayo Lawal, who is from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

The incident occurred at the venue of the 10th year remembrance got a former deputy governor of the state, between 1999 and 2003, Alhaji Lam Adesina, who was born on January 20, 1939 and breathed his last on November 11, 2012.

The event took place inside Hall of Grace, Jogor Event Centre, Oke-Ado, Ibadan. The programme was graced by a former governor of Ogun State from 1999 to 2003, Chief Olusegun Osoba; former deputy governor of Lagos State, Chief Abiodun Ogunleye; two former deputy governors in Oyo State, Chief Iyiola Oladokun, who served with Lam Adesina, and Otunba Moses Alake Adeyemo, who also served during the eight-year tenure of late Senator Abiola Ajimobi, from 2011 to 2019.

The roll call also comprised former First Lady of the state, Alhaja Sarat Adesina, widow of the deceased; son of the deceased, Dapo Lam Adesina, who has served as a member of the House of Representatives, representing Ibadan North East/South East federal constituency as well as former Commissioner for Youth and Sports in the state; the Maye Olubadan, Oloye Lekan Alabi, who represented the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun, Alli-Okunmade II; the 2023 governorship candidate of APC in the state, Senator Teslim Folarin; and a chieftain of PDP in the state, Senator Monsurat Sunmonu, as well as Senator Olufemi Lanlehin, who represented Oyo South in the National Assembly from 2011 to 2015.

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But Osoba and Ogunleye had left the venue before the booing occurred, after presentation of their goodwill messages. The APC governorship candidate, Folarin, presented his goodwill message and asked Nigerians to vote for all APC candidates, starting from the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Timubu, to the Houses of Assembly members.

Then, the deputy governor of the state, Bayo Lawal, who was to present the last goodwill message took the centre stage. He extolled the virtues of Lam Adesina as a freedom fighter and how he was unjustly arrested by then military government and declared as a prisoner of war.

But as Lawal said Governor Seyi Makinde, was not in the country and that he had sent a goodwill message to the occasion. Then, noise started coming from the right hand side of the hall. He paused two times and said: ‘Who are those making noise there?’ When he said it the second time, those shouting raised their voices and stated saying: ‘Tessy Lokan’. Lawal kept silence for a while.

When the people did not stop shouting, though some elders signalled to them to stop the noises, Lawal continued his speech. But the shouting was later turned to a song: ‘E se, e se o; e se o, e wa maa lo’ (Thank you and thank, leave the stage). But Lawal did not order security agents to stop them. He continued by saying that during the 2023 governorship poll in the state, Nigerians would vote, the votes would be counted, and Governor Seyi Makinde, would be re-elected in a free, fair and credible election, for a second term in office.

Son of the late governor, Dapo Lam-Adesina, who is a ranking member of APC accompanied the deputy governor to his car, and ensured that he left the venue safely.