The All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South West has said the party has not approved the appointment of former Oyo state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi as the deputy national chairman of the ruling party.
The position became vacant following the appointment of Niyi Adebayo as the Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Zonal publicity secretary of the APC, Mr Karounwi Oladapo in a statement made available to Tribune Online in Ado-Ekiti said media reports announcing Ajimobi should be disregarded by the public.
He added that names of Ajimobi and Senator Gbenga Aluko (Ekiti state) as agreed at the zonal meeting in Osogbo on Tuesday have been forwarded to the national secretariat of the party to pick the preferred person.
The statement reads, ” The attention of the leadership of the South West Caucus was drawn to a misleading media reports that the South West Caucus approved the appointment of Senator Abiola Ajimobi as the Deputy National Chairman of APC at the Osogbo Meeting of the APC leadership.
“It was a complete falsehood as nothing like that happened in the said meeting. Members of the Public and APC members should disregard such claims. How can the leadership Caucus in Abuja ratify a non-existent endorsement and approval. As the Zonal Publicity Secretary, statutorily responsible for the dissemination of news and information from the Zonal Caucus, I did not issue any statement after the Osogbo meeting because I was not authorized to so do.
”Once again, I will like to reiterate the Statement of the National Vice Chairman South West and the Chairman of the South West Zonal Caucus, Pastor Bankole Oluwajana, that the Party never approved nor endorsed any candidate at its Osogbo meeting and that the APC National leadership will resolve who among Senator Gbenga Aluko and Senator Abiola Ajimobi will occupy the vacant seat at the appropriate time.”
