A leadership crisis has rocked the Oyo State chapter of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as two factions within the party have laid claim to the leadership of the Membership Revalidation and Membership Registration (MRMR) Committee ahead of the ongoing membership exercise in the state.
The dispute deepened yesterday when the state leadership of the party reaffirmed Mr Ayo Akinyemi as the duly recognised chairman of the committee, dismissing claims by another camp that a separate committee had been constituted.
The clarification was issued by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Barrister Bimpe Adelowo, during a press conference held at the ADC Secretariat in Mokola, Ibadan.
Adelowo stated that Mr. Ayo Akinyemi remained the recognised chairman of the MRMR Committee in Oyo State, while Professor Folake Tafita serves as the committee’s secretary, stressing that both officials are the only recognised representatives of the committee in the state.
The development followed an earlier announcement by Bisi Ilaka, a former Chief of Staff to Governor Seyi Makinde, who on Monday unveiled the names of ten additional members of what he described as his committee during a press briefing at the Oyo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Press Centre in Iyaganku, Ibadan.
Responding to the development, Adelowo insisted that the only committee recognised by the party’s national leadership is the one headed by Akinyemi.
According to her, the committee was formally inaugurated on February 12, 2026 in Abuja by the national leadership of the party.
Addressing the controversy, Adelowo said the committee was properly constituted with representatives from the three senatorial districts in the state and mandated to conduct the membership revalidation and registration exercise.
“There is no other committee saddled with this function in Oyo State. We only know of one committee, and that is the committee whose names were submitted to Abuja,” Adelowo said.
She explained that the committee was structured to ensure balanced representation across the state’s three senatorial districts, with three members drawn from each district alongside the chairman and secretary serving as principal officers.
Adelowo noted that the composition of the committee reflects the party’s inclusiveness, as members were drawn from different political tendencies including the Labour Party, the All Progressives Congress, the Peoples Democratic Party and the ADC, as well as individuals who are not indigenes of the state.
“It’s a party that cuts across all sectors. We are not religiously biased and neither are we ethnically biased,” she said.
She called on individuals engaging in parallel activities relating to the membership exercise to desist and instead support the officially constituted structure of the party.
“Anyone that is doing something else should just conserve their energy and come back to the fold so that we can push this party forward.”
