Monsurat Sunmonu, a former senator from Oyo Central, has been admonished by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) leadership in Oyo State not to imply that she will be handing over the entire party structure to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if she ever defected to the latter.
ADC asked the former Oyo State Speaker to refrain from making any promises about passing over the ADC structure in the state to her new companions in a communique that was released following a press conference in Ibadan and made available to journalists in the city, the capital of Oyo State.
In the communique adopted at the event attended by party executives and candidates from across the state, Adeoti Babatunde Aderoju and Bimpe Adelowo, the party’s chairman and publicity secretary, respectively, stated that “Much as we do not begrudge the former senator of her democratic rights to associate with whomsoever she fancies, we’re constrained to issue this caveat emptor to her new associates so that they know what they’re buying.” Senator Sunmonu, one of the previous ADC leaders, is not our party’s supreme leader since our executive structures, which extend from the state to the ward level, are well-composed and in no way answer to or are accountable to her.
She cannot, therefore, guarantee to her new partners what was never within her control in the first place. This is eloquently stated by the legal maxim “nemo dat quod no habet,” which means that she cannot offer what she does not have. Some of the Exco members who might be exposed as defectors are either special assistants or assistant secretaries in different local administrations, making them political appointees of the current administration.
Because of this, we caution Senator Monsurat Sunmonu to make sure she distinguishes the facts clearly when she announces her defection to the PDP at a rally on October 13, 2022, telling everyone that she is doing so on her own initiative and not with the support or express approval of our party, the ADC.
The party declared, “That as a party, we firmly support all of our candidates in the 2023 General Elections, and that we shall do all that is legitimate to achieve their victory.”
The party claimed that it has candidates running for every elective position in the state, noting that Dr. Bamidele Ajadi and Evan Emmanuel Oyewole are the party’s candidates for governor and deputy governor, respectively. Additionally, the party said that it has candidates running for all 32 seats in the state assembly, as well as for 14 representatives and three senatorial seats.
