Receives Alao-Akala, Folarin, others in Oyo
From: Oluseye Ojo, IbadanFormer governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed the insinuation that implosion is imminent in the party due to the way political heavyweights have been deflecting to the party ahead of 2019 general elections.In an interview with journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on Saturday evening, before the public reception organised by the party in honour of frontline politicians in the state that defected from opposition to the party at Mapo Hall Arcade, Ibadan, he said the APC has capacity to accommodate all the bigwigs without any hurdle that would not be circumvented.
The defectors included a former governor of Oyo State, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, who served as governor from 2007 to 2011, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and moved into the Labour Party (LP) prior to the 2015 general elections, before his latest move.The defectors also included former Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin; former deputy governor of the state and former Nigerian Ambassador to Jordan, Amb Taofeek Arapaja; former Secretary to the State Government, Chief Ayodele Adigun; the only federal lawmaker elected on the platform of PDP to the House of Representatives, Segun Odebunmi; as well as Rauf Olaniyan, Ayoola Makanjuola, Alhaji Rasaq Gbadegesin and their teeming supporters.

According to Tinubu, “We have a stainless kitchen and we can accommodate as many cooks as possible and because we will have a variety of menu in the political kitchen of planning this future.

“We love those big wigs and we can accommodate them all. It is in the same forest that you find a hippo that you find an elephant and you will find a rabbit. In political platforms, you must look for the addition not the minus.”
The defectors to APC were received by Tinubu, Oyo State governor, Abiola Ajimobi, and his counterpart from Osun and Ondo States, Rauf Aregbesola and Rotimi Akeredolu. National leaders of the party that were at the reception included Chief Segun Oni, a former governor of Ekiti State and Deputy National Chairman  (South West), as well as Chief Pius Akinyelure, National Vice Chairman (South West).