Four members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) panel in Oyo State have dissociated themselves from the purported Congress held at the weekend.
They said the Congress did not meet the guidelines set by the National Caretaker Committee led by Governor Mai Mala Buni.
The panel members-Diran Iyantan, Ralph Igbokwe, Olarewaju Edun and Abdullahi Kontagora urged the national leadership of the ruling party to correct the anomaly of the Congress of Exclusion to avoid losing future electoral misfortune.
The four chieftains said in a statement that they were not part of the Congress as stipulated by the guidelines.
The statement reads:” We arrived Oyo State on Thursday 28th October to conduct the rescheduled State Congress of the APC in Oyo State
“On Friday 30th October,we attended a stakeholders meeting of the party at the party secretariat in Oke Ado, Ibadan where we briefed stakeholders on the Congress Guidelines.
“The Chairman of the Committee, Alhaji Lawan Gambo, among other things,handed over a Delegates List to the State Chairman of the party, which he said was handed over to him at the National Secretariat.
“There was controversy on the authenticity of the list at the meeting.
“We also wish to state that the instruction of the National Secretariat was for us to guide the process of election of state executives by consensus.
“On Saturday, 30th October, some protesting members of the APC who were complaining about alleged falsified Delegates list blocked access to the apartment in which we were accommodated in Jericho, Ibadan.
“After several hours of futile attempts to escape from the blockage of the protesters,the four of us successfully escaped from the apartment.
“We were however surprised to learn later that a congress was held in Ibadan sole-moto by the Secretary of our Committee who did not have our Authority to that effect.
“We further state without equivocation that none of us was present at the Liberty Stadium where the purported Congress took place.
“We are also aware that the Chairman of the committee and the seventh member, Mrs Peace Chikelue, could not attend the congress as well due to security reasons.
“We wish to clear the air that we were not part of any congress purportedly held in Oyo State by the APC on Saturday 30th October 2021.
“We urge the National party to take steps to address the acrimony in the party to avoid the mistakes of the last election.”