A former gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress in Osun State (APC), Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi, at the weekend, collapsed all his political structures saying it will all be handed over to the party to ensure victory of the party’s candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, in the August 2026 election.

Ogunbiyi who made this known after “a thank you” meeting with his supporters in Osogbo, for their dedication and sincerity towards his success during campaign across the state, all charged other governorship aspirants to hand over their campaign structures to the party to make the party structure more fortified and formidable.

According to him, “Now that the candidate of the party has emerged, I have come to brief my supporters across the state that there is no more grouping, that all of us, the nine aspirants agreed to work for the party, no more Ogunbiyi group, no more KRAD group, everyone of us, we had a meeting and we resolved that we work to ensure that Bola Oyebamiji emerged governor of Osun State come August 8, this year.”

“Every one of us had a meeting and we resolved that every one of us will work. We will do everything within our respective constituencies to ensure that Bola Oyebamiji emerges as the governor of Osun State from August this year.”

“I am very sure of emerging as the consensus candidate for the Osun West Senatorial District by the special grace of God. The same way that everybody works and gives consent to Bola Oyebamiji to be the governorship candidate, by the same token, I believe in what our leaders are saying.”

“Our leaders have individually and collectively mentioned to me that I will pick the senatorial ticket. I don’t have any reason to doubt them. So, I’m putting on record to my supporters that we have not lost anything.”

“The most important thing is for Bola Oyebamiji to emerge as the elected governor. If that happens, by the grace of God, I, Akin Ogunbiyi, from Iwo Federal constituency, by the special grace of God and the support of our leaders, I will emerge as the senator of the West.”

“There is no Idera De Movement across the state any longer. There is APC movement across the state and that is what we have come to tell our supporters today. APC is APC, and it is a party that we all carry and have to work for.”

“We have carried Idera De up to the point that the primary was conducted. So as long as you have a consensus candidate, and I’m going to emerge as a consensus candidate at the senatorial level, there is nothing like a Idera De movement.”

“Before I came to do this today, I had all my caucuses, we had all met and resolved that the party’s candidate is the ultimate that we have to work for. That has been done.”

“So just doing it across the state is what we have come to do today. So, by the grace of God, all of us, and you know there is voting in Iwo, we have always been progressive. Irrespective of what happens to us, we’ve still been progressive”.

“Yes, we are not too happy that they didn’t give us the governorship, but that doesn’t mean that we are still not going to work for the party. We have 170,000 votes in Iwo, and I am telling everybody that by the special grace of God, progressives should count on Iwo, as we have always done in the past, we will still deliver for Oyebamiji and we will deliver for APC.

“I want to say at this point that every one of us aspirants, every one of us supporters and members of APC, we have one goal, and that goal is to deliver Oyebamiji as the governor of Osun State come 2026. But for that to happen, our leaders need to quickly move to hold consultations and hold meetings to quickly unify everybody behind the party”.

“I expect that by now, our leaders will have handed over the machinery of a campaign to the party. So, the party should not be made to work. It is that we are going to keep behind the party.”

“So, whatever the party directs us to do, we will do faithfully. I will support with my finances, I will support with everything I have, and I am making the commitment on behalf of my federal constituency, that whatever the party lays before us, we will do it faithfully to the extent that Oyebamiji will emerge as the governor of Osun.”

‘But I am appealing to our leaders, time is of essence. This is the time to call everybody together and let everybody know that we have a common goal, and let them hand over the affairs, the campaign, the planning and execution of the campaign of Oyebamiji to APC Secretariat.”

“Since all the aspirants have agreed to work for the success of the party at the polls, it became imperative for them to surrender their private structures to the party hierarchy for effective coordination,” he added. (Nigerian Tribune)