The Action Democratic Party (ADP) leadership has asked its governorship candidate in Oyo State, former governor Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala, to bury the thought of leaving the party to rejoin the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

ADP said on Monday that it was too late in the middle of the game for Alao-Akala to align with any political party.

It stated that as far as the party’s leadership was concerned, Alao-Akala remains its governorship candidate.

Besides, the ADP said it has embarked on mobilisation of the party’s members and supporters to educate them on the need to reject Alao-Akala’s decision to align with the APC candidate, Bayo Adelabu, in the March 9 governorship election.

Alao-Akala had struck a deal after a meeting with the APC National Leader Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu to support Adelabu in the forthcoming governorship poll in Oyo State.

ADP Southwest Chairman Chief Lateef Arowosaye, in a statement in Ibadan at the weekend, said the party was unaware of any pact with the APC.

According to the party, members and supporters of ADP should cast their votes for all ADP candidates, including Alao-Akala in next Saturday’s election.

The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to the statement by Otunba Alao-Akala to the effect that he has withdrawn his candidacy from the gubernatorial election in Oyo State scheduled for next week. The ADP wishes to make the following clarifications after consultations at all levels of the party’s leadership:

“We have not been formally informed by Otunba Alao-Akala of his decision to withdraw from the gubernatorial race.

“The gubernatorial ticket belongs to the party and not the candidate.

“The legal department of our party is fully informed and appropriate legal advice is being awaited. The ADP, therefore, remains in the gubernatorial election, moreso when the window of substitution of candidates has closed.

“We call on our teeming members and supporters of the ADP to troop out on March 9, 2019 and vote for the ADP in the gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections.

“The ADP wishes to also state that it is not in alliance with the APC in Oyo State.

“We have campaigned on the strength of our positioning as the credible alternative to the ruling APC in Oyo State. It will, therefore, be ridiculous to turn around at the 11th hour and embrace what we have used the lifetime of the ADP to condemn.

“The ADP is, however, in talks with other opposition parties in Oyo State to give the people of Oyo State a new breath of life. We shall duly inform party members and the public at large of this initiative at the fullest of time.”