Fourteen out of the 22 registered political parties on Monday elected a new set of executives for the Inter-Party Advisory Council in Osun State.
The election, held in Osogbo, the state capital, was conducted through affirmation and monitored by journalists.
It produced a nine-member executive, with the chairman of the Democratic Leadership Alliance, Tosin Odeyemi, emerging as the new Osun IPAC chairman.
Others elected are Prof. Adigun Adepeju of the African Democratic Congress, who emerged as Deputy Chairman; Araoye Kazeem of the Action Alliance, Secretary; Adesuyi Olufemi of the Zenith Labour Party, Publicity Secretary; and Mustapha Muideen of the Labour Party, Treasurer.
Dr Gbenga Afeni of the National Rescue Movement was elected the new Organising Secretary, while Waheed Adediran of the All Progressives Congress emerged as Legal Adviser.
Tayo Adeyemi of the African Action Congress was elected Financial Secretary, while Adebayo Olasunkanmi of the Allied Peoples Movement emerged as Deputy Secretary.
Also in attendance at the election were the chairmen of the Action Democratic Party, Toye Akinola; Nigeria Democratic Congress, Charles Omidiji; All Progressives Grand Alliance, Victor Olopade; Social Democratic Party, Funso Fabiyi; and National Democratic Party, Ezekiel Ayoola, who served as chairman of the electoral committee.
In his acceptance speech after the election, the new Osun IPAC chairman, Odeyemi, said 16 political parties participated in the exercise out of the 22 registered parties, adding that they decided to act after the national leadership of IPAC failed to fill the vacant positions in the state.
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“This vacuum is causing concern among stakeholders, particularly with the gubernatorial election approaching. The absence of a functioning IPAC raises a critical question: who will serve as the official mouthpiece for political parties in the engagements and consultations preceding the election?
“After due consultation, sixteen registered Political Parties in Osun state out of the twenty-two felt we should not allow our collective council to be hijacked by those desperate to put us in the coven of a political party.
“Hence the inauguration of this Executive Committee, with our full consent, to serve as intermediary between the Political Parties and the electorate. I want to appreciate our National Executive Committee of IPAC, my leaders and elders in Osun IPAC for this great trust; I will never take it for granted,” Odeyemi said.
He expressed readiness to work with other members of the executive, defend the interests of the parties and strengthen democratic governance through meaningful engagement.
PUNCH Online earlier reported that a crisis hit IPAC in the state as 13 registered political parties rejected the appointment of a caretaker committee for the Inter-Party Advisory Council in the state.
IPAC is the umbrella body for opposition political parties.
Addressing journalists in Osogbo on behalf of the parties that rejected the caretaker committee, the chairman of the Democratic Leadership Alliance, Tosin Odeyemi, described the purported appointment of a caretaker committee for Osun IPAC as “a joke taken too far.”
Odeyemi recalled how the national body of IPAC could not conduct an election into the vacant positions of the council in Osun after the expiration of the tenure of the last chairman, Victor Akande, who is also the state chairman of the Accord Party.
