Chairman of the National Committee on the Osun State Congress of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye, on Sunday, dissociated himself from the parallel congress conducted by The Osun Progressive (TOP) which is loyal to ex-Governor Rauf Aregbesola, saying it was an exercise in futility.
The committee chairman while addressing the press at the party secretariat in Osogbo said any exercise conducted outside the one it oversaw at Osogbo township stadium, was a charade and amounted to barren efforts.
“Their congress is a political charade and a fruitless effort,” Elegbeleye said.
The committee noted that it was not aware of any parallel congress as being speculated, noting that if such happened at all, it was just a waste of time as the committee remained the legitimate body saddled with the responsibility to conduct the state congress.
Recall that the 7-member of the committee on Saturday conducted the state congress at the Osogbo City Stadium where the former chairman of the party, Prince Gboyega Famodun, was re-elected just as other state executive members emerged.
“There was no other congress except the one we conducted and supervised, which was done in line with the party’s constitution, electoral principles and guidelines,” Elegbeleye said.
Elegbeleye, who described the insinuations of parallel congress in the state as a fallacy, said on no account can congress hold outside the knowledge of the committee as prescribed by the party’s principles and guidelines.
He said, “I am not aware of any congress anywhere in Osun State, nobody notified me or any member of this committee. We are seven in number. What we don’t know we don’t act on it.
“We came here to the state secretariat of the party on Friday to hold a stakeholders meeting and we informed them all party members that the congress will be held at Osogbo Township Stadium on Saturday, so if we came here to announce the venue of the congress, we were saddled by the national secretariat to conduct party congress for APC Osun State.
“So, if anybody goes to any shrine to do anything, certainly that may be a funeral ceremony or marriage ceremony but not a congress.
“The one we know, we organized APC congress, so we don’t recognize or assume that there was a congress anywhere, there was no congress outside what we organized.
Elegbeleye who expressed satisfaction at the entire process said it was a good thing for the committee that all the candidates that met the constitutional requirements and satisfied the party’s principles and guidelines won the seats and were consequently declared winners of the congress by the committee.
He said the committee had done the needful as expected, having performed the task in the presence of the required electoral empire and other relevant agencies.
“The congress was successful, hitch-free, fair and credible as envisaged and it was conducted in accordance with the constitution, principles and guidelines of the party as enshrined in article 20 as read out yesterday.
“We have had the wards and local government congresses before the state and we thank God that everything went smoothly without rancour as our members comported themselves and demonstrated the much-expected Omoluabi ethos.
“As we all know, the screening of the delegates was done normally and it was a 99 percent success. We have done the needful. The winners had met the constitutional requirements and they have been returned elected,” he added.
Earlier, the APC State Chairman-elect, Hon. Gboyega Famodun, lauded the committee for being transparent, accountable and for ensuring that the entire process ended well.
Famodun who expressed profound gratitude to the loyalists of the party for re-electing him promised not to let them down.