Adekunle Akinade, the deputy governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP in the forthcoming general election has been made the Director General of Atiku/Okowa presidential Campaign Council in Ogun -State. He has also taken over as the head of Ladi Adebutu Campaign Support Fund for the 2023 general election. This development is coming after the politician faced some political setbacks in his career ahead of the 2023 general election.
The political ambition of the former House of Representative member for Egbado South/Ipokia Federal Constituency under the platform of the All Progressive Congress, APC was under siege for a couple of months before he found his groove back. After serving as a lawmaker, he defected to the Allied People’s Movement where he contested for the governorship seat after failing to secure an APC nomination which he lost to Dapo Abiodun, in 2019.
He later defected to the PDP and emerged the deputy governorship candidate of the party. After his defection, his godfather, the former governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun who supported him and sponsored his political ambition during the 2019 election turned his back at him. Amosun had single-handedly raised all the support Akinlade needed to contest against Abiodun but unfortunately, he lost the election. However, he decided to take his hands off Akinlade in 2022 by supporting Biyi Otegbeye, the governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC to the dismay of many who thought the former governor would throw his weight behind Akinlade.
Akinlade moved on from the disappointment but unfortunately faced another challenge after his candidacy and that of Adebutu, the governorship candidate of the PDP was challenged by 370 out of 728 on the Independent Electoral Commission, (INEC) certified list of ad-hoc delegates elected in the ward congresses held on the 30th of April, 2022. The aggrieved parties which secured the judgment at a Federal High Court in Abeokuta established allegations that they were prevented from voting during the PDP gubernatorial primary held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Library (OPL) Abeokuta because they would have voted for another aspirant of their choice.
The court later nullified the PDP primary election. Faced with another hurdle, the APC also took Akinlade and Adebutu to court and asked the court to disqualify them. APC accused Akinlade of not resigning his membership of the APC before he became the running mate to Adebutu of the PDP. The APC also complained that Akinlade, having contested the governorship ticket of the APC, was not qualified to be the deputy governorship candidate of the PDP in the 2023 election. Providence later smiled on him as the Supreme Court nullified all pending cases against him and the APC also dropped their charges against him.
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