AD Chieftain Warns Oke To Follow Due Process

A chieftain of Alliance for Democracy (AD), Mr Ajayi Kola,
has advised Chief Olusola Oke, the party’s supposed candidate for the
forthcoming Ondo governorship election, to make his intention well known.

Kola, the Lagos State Chairman of AD, gave the advice on
Thursday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

Kola said that it was bad for the majority of the party
members to know that Oke was the party’s governorship candidate on the pages of
newspapers.

AD’s National Legal Adviser, Mr Kehinde Aworele, had last
week said that the party’s National Executive Committee did not recognise Oke
as its flag bearer for the Nov. 26 election.

NAN reports that Oke had in 2012 contested and lost
governorship election in the state on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party.

He defected to the All Progressives Congress where he vied
for the governorship ticket for the November poll but was unsuccessful.

He then decamped to AD and claimed to have picked its ticket
for the Nov. 26 election.

Kola told NAN that nobody was against Oke’s candidature,
urging him to go through the necessary procedure.

“What we are saying is that he should go through the normal
way; if he wants to fly the party’s flag in the election, it is beyond two or
three people.

“You do not make your intention known to party members on
the pages of newspapers.

“We have hierarchy; we have a national leader, a national
chairman, we have the National Executive Committee (NEC), and we have the
National Working Committee.

“They are supposed to be briefed; he ought to have met these
people and not go through the backdoor.

“There are certain rules in the party’s constitution that
the leadership of the party must iron-out with him before he receives the nods
to go ahead.

“He is a very good candidate, a good brand and a saleable
one at that; these people will be of great assistance to him if he meets with
them. Nobody hates him,’’ he said.

Kola also faulted the composition of Oke’s campaign team,
saying that no member of AD was in the team.

He said that such an arrangement was neither tidy nor done
anywhere within the political circle.

Kola, however, described Oke as `a big fish’ which every
party would love and want to have.

Meanwhile, Mr Akin Olowookere, who had been in the
governorship race on the platform of AD, has said that he  voluntarily stepped down for Oke.

Olowookere was reacting to Aworele statement that AD’s NEC
did not recognise Oke candidature.

He claimed that criticisms against Oke was due to jealousy
and ill feelings for his popularity.

Oke’s Campaign Manager, Mr Bola Ilori, had also described
Aworele’s position as a distraction being sponsored by opposition.