Why ADP will win — National publicity secretary
Chief Yemi Adetoyinbo, a legal practitioner and national publicity secretary of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), speaks on the chances of his party in the forthcoming governorship election in Osun State and other issues.
ADP was part of the grand alliance formed by about 40 political parties not too long ago, but it seems much is being heard about ADP’s relationship with CUPP? What has gone wrong?
I will explain. ADP shares the same idea of a formidable political alignment with other political parties to ensure a new phase in the country. Our determination was to effect a paradigm shift from the current poor performance of the current regime led us to our joining the coalition, CUPP grand alliance. Our name was number two on the list of the parties involved in the grand alliance. But due to certain ideological and other political considerations bordering on credibility issues our party, we pulled out of the coalition. The fact is that there are some issues and items of discourse that my party didn’t agree with, with some centered on the credibility of the PDP, which might want to dominate the space. Our party’s creed of credibility makes us the alternative and the best platform for good governance, rule of law, transparent and corruption-free society. Our party is the real platform capable of making the desired difference as the country cannot continue with the impunity, corruption, bad governance associated with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). However, ADP is committed to collaborating with other political parties, possibility of having alliances with new and smaller parties now that there are 91 parties in the country. We want other parties to join forces with us to wrestle power from APC. Ditto such socio-cultural groups like Afenifere, Arewa Consultative Forum, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and others. Our party is ready to contest 2019 Presidential poll.
At inception, ADP claimed to be the Third Force among the parties, but you have failed to live up to that vision, given the woeful performance of ADP in the governorship poll in Ekiti last July?
We still remain the real Third Force and indeed, the third largest political party in Nigeria with membership spread across the country. We can boast of key political figures as members. It isn’t correct to say that we performed woefully in the Ekiti State election. The true position was that there was sudden spilt in the governorship ticket of our party a week to the election. It was through the handiwork of the APC leadership, as the running mate in the governorship poll, Mrs. Antonia Omonuwa defected to the APC; she team up with the candidate of the APC in the election, Dr Kayode Fayemi a day after the ADP mega rally in Ado-Ekiti , that was on July 7, 2018, thus denying us the time to substitute her name. so, we went into the election with an incomplete governorship ticket, putting the party in jeopardy and in disarray as the governorship candidate said he was not sure if he was still in the race as vote-buying by the main parties dominated the poll. Therefore, the number of votes credited to us was a mere allocation, as our members in every ward in Ekiti State is more than that. So, it is presumptuous for anyone to say to say we might suffer a similar fate in the forthcoming governorship election in Osun State.
Why do you believe so, as not much has been done by ADP to assert its presence in the state with less than two weeks to the election?
Our candidate, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti parades intimidating credentials and experience. He is a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), ex-chairman of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Osun. He is a popular grass-root mobiliser. There are other eminent and seasoned politicians like Senator Bayo Salam; former Commissioner for Information, Dr, Bolorunduro; Alhaji Azeez Adesiji, deputy APC State chairman along with nine state EXCO members and ward and local government chairmen of the APC have defected to our party. There are other political juggernauts like Prince Dotun Babayemi, Dr Peter Power Babalola, Honourable Kehinde Morounkeji, Professor Adeolu Durotoye, a former PDP guber aspirant now ADP running mate are among the leaders of the party and who will all collaborate to ensure victory for the party on September 22, 2018.
Outside Osun State, we also boast of other political figures as High Chief Alani Bankole (BOT chair); his son and former Speaker, House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; Alhaji Nojeem Awodele, a former Minister of State Agriculture under the Jonathan administration is ADP deputy national chairman, while a former Senate Chief Whip, Senator Roland Owie from Edo State is the chairman of the Contact and Mobilisation Committee. And let me restate that at a NEC meeting held on August 29, 2018 in Abuja, part of our resolutions was that our door is wide open for presidential hopefuls and other politicians in our effort to gain power in 2019. We are ready to give the APC and PDP a run for their money, and mega rally tentatively fixed for September 19 in Osogbo on the governorship election will further affirm the truth that we are the party to beat in the election.
Originally published at www.tribuneonlineng.com on September 9, 2018.
