S’West ADC stakeholders demand Aregbesola’s suspension
S’West ADC stakeholders demand Aregbesola’s suspension
Stakeholders of the African Democratic Congress in the South-West on Thursday called for the immediate suspension of the party’s national secretary, Rauf Aregbesola.
The stakeholders, in their communique issued after the end of an emergency zonal strategic stakeholders meeting in Ibadan, Oyo State, also rejected the 14-man caretaker committees allegedly set up by Aregbesola across the region.
They expressed their confidence in the ability of other ADC national leaders to build a united platform for the success of the party in the 2027 elections, while pledging unalloyed support to the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar.
They promised to deliver the region for the ADC in 2027.
“The South-West leadership and stakeholders call on the national leadership of the party to immediately suspend Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as National Secretary forthwith,” the communique read.
The communique was jointly signed by the ADC South-West Chief Special Adviser, Felix Ogunwale; Head of Directorates, Yinka Olona; Ogun State Chairman, Olufemi Soluade; his Osun, Ekiti and Ondo State counterparts, Abideen Okandeji; Ekiti, Ilesanmi Omolayo; and Wole Ademoyegun, respectively.
Former South-West National Vice Chairman, Razak Eyiowuawi, said the meeting was convened by state executives, leaders and concerned members across the region to review the dwindling fortune of the party in the zone and to provide solutions to reposition it ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The stakeholders further accused Aregbesola of acting in contravention of the party constitution by creating parallel structures across the region, local government areas and wards under the name of Omoluabi Progressive and parading officers of the group as ADC officers.
The communique said, “Article 22, Section 1 of the party constitution prohibits breach of the constitution, acts likely to bring the party into disrepute, disobedience to lawful directives, activities likely to cause disaffection, unauthorised publicity of party disputes, creation of parallel party organs, belonging to factional groups and collusion to convene unauthorised meetings.”
The stakeholders alleged that, “Aregbesola, using his position as National Secretary, colluded with some persons within INEC and, on July 14, 2026, the last day for uploading National Assembly candidates, infiltrated the party system and fraudulently substituted names of successful National Assembly candidates who emerged through INEC-monitored primaries with names from his Omoluabi Progressive group.”
They further alleged that Kamil Akinlade, whose name was listed by INEC as ADC senatorial candidate for Oyo Central, took the ADC nomination form without any cost.
On his abuse of office, the stakeholders alleged that “Aregbesola plunged the party into financial crisis during membership registration by misleading the national hierarchy against the Electoral Act 2026,” which they said “only allows for e-membership registration,” and by facilitating the printing of hard copies of registration materials which were handed to his Omoluabi Progressive members, leading to ridiculously low registration in the region.
It also accused “Aregbesola of usurping the statutory functions of the National Organising Secretary by appointing parallel primary election committees across the South-West against those appointed by the National Organising Secretary, and submitting same to INEC, thereby exposing the party to litigation.
“Aregbesola, through his splinter group, had been holding unconstitutional meetings bypassing unit, ward, local government and state structures, and that during the sale of nomination forms, he released forms to his splinter group while denying access to many members who had the capacity to deliver their states for ADC.”
They described ADC’s performance as exceptionally dismal in the recently conducted governorship elections in both the Ekiti and Osun states.
“Aregbesola did not allow a democratic process in the nomination of governorship candidates for both states, but handpicked his cronies against capable and influential individuals who were later lost to other parties.
“In Ekiti, ADC scored a total of 12,872 votes, representing 3.4 per cent of the total valid votes, in the election held on June 20, 2026, while in Osun, ADC scored a total of 17,180 votes, representing 1.7 per cent of the total valid votes, in the election held on August 15, 2026,” the communique read.
They further accused Aregbesola of acting more as an ally of President Bola Tinubu than as a national officer of the ADC, of personalising the functions of the National Working Committee, and of working to regain his lost political relevance in Osun and Lagos State, respectively.
The stakeholders during the meeting also alleged that one of his latest actions was the illegal sole appointment of 14-man caretaker committees across the 36 states in defiance of subsisting Federal High Court and Court of Appeal judgments.
They claimed that such illegal committees were purportedly set up in Oyo, Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo and Lagos states in connivance with persons including Kamil Akinlade, Adeoye Adekola and Afeez Jimoh in Ona-Ara Local Government Area of Oyo State, Azeez Adesiji and others in Osun State; while Famojuro Emmanuel and others in Ogun State, and Wale Omole and others in Ekiti State.
The stakeholders alleged that those individuals, on the authority of Aregbesola, coordinated the receipt of a list of party agents from the APC to be uploaded on the INEC portal as ADC polling agents, to deprive the party of its agents at polling booths across the South West on election days.
They also alleged that Aregbesola deliberately pushed court actions on behalf of the party as part of a strategy to hinder the ambition of the party’s presidential candidate, rather than seeking political solutions.
They further alleged that Aregbesola and former Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, are in the same camp, adding that it was Fayemi who nominated Omole as Aregbesola’s South-West National Vice Chairman, while Fayemi has publicly declared support for the second-term bid of President Bola Tinubu.
The stakeholders, therefore, resolved that “the greatest priority of the South-West caucus is to form a formidable and united platform that can deliver the region for the ADC in the 2027 general elections.”
