The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said it was not briefed about the inauguration of the State Presidential Campaign Committee for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu scheduled for today.

The inauguration is to be coordinated by Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke.

In a statement on Thursday, the Osun APC Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, said the party only became aware of the event through a social media listing of names by the spokesperson of Governor Adeleke, Olawale Rasheed, on Wednesday afternoon.

“In as much as we consider the re-election of the national leader of our party, President Tinubu, as a collective task which we have been working vigorously and assiduously to achieve through various means, it is our view and conviction that such an exercise should be properly scheduled,” Lawal said.

“We are talking about the re-election of the President of the nation under the largest democratic party in the Sub-Sahara Africa and not the election of a council chairman or that of a councilor, which is the reason such exercise should be approached with the highest official protocol required to ease the accomplishment of the exercise.”

Lawal said less than 12 hours notice was too short and had shut out many who would have attended.

“We are reiterating the fact that we did not have the knowledge of any inauguration beyond the social media listing of some names yesterday afternoon by the spokesman of Governor Adeleke, Malam Olawale Rasheed, to the chagrin of the leaders, members and supporters of our party,” he stated.

“Aside the fact that not all social media news should be taken as genuine, less than 12 hours notice is such short that many people who would have been around are already shut out.”

The Osun APC chairman described the listing of committee members less than 24 hours to the event without any prior meeting with the party leadership as a ploy to set the state chapter against the President.

“It is our belief that listing of the names of the members of the state Presidential Campaign Committee less than 24 hours before the event proper, without any prior meeting with the leadership of the party in the state, was a ploy to set the state chapter of the party against the President, which can neither fly nor sit, as we consider the project as our baby, which shouldn’t be handled with levity,” he said.

“In our view, the current arrangement of the said state Presidential Campaign Committee was designed to stoke and promote an avoidable misunderstanding between our party and the appointed state co-ordinator of the campaign in the state which we shall try as much as possible to avoid.”

Lawal, however, said the party remains committed to the re-election of President Tinubu and that Governor Adeleke’s appointment as coordinator would boost the President’s chances.

“We are reiterating the fact that we are not opposed to conceding anything for the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the forthcoming presidential election but our concern is that things should be done in a proper way to achieve desired results,” he said.

“We also agree that the appointment of Governor Adeleke as the state co-ordinator of President Tinubu re-election campaign committee would boost the chances of our presidential candidate through the joint efforts and contributions of the political parties coming together,” he added.