Association of former local government Chairmen, Vice Chairmen and councilors during the administration of late Governor Abiola Ajimobi under the aegis of Forum 68, has expressed its readiness to make the All Progressives Congress (APC) stronger and return to power come 2027.

Prince Ayodeji Abass-Alesinloye, who is the Chairman of the Forum, disclosed this during the thanksgiving event to celebrate the five years legal and political battle between the Forum and the state governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde.

He assured the leadership and members of All Progressives Congress in Oyo State to trust and bank on a solid broad political base, valuable experience, grassroots democracy, as well as contact and development of members of the Forum to deliver on the task ahead.

While appreciating the leadership of the party for the support throughout the legal battle, Abass-Alesinloye disclosed that the Forum has lost 27 of its members in the last five years.

“Forum 68 (68 ex-LG Chairmen, 68 ex-Vice Chairmen and 610 councilors) is a convergence point of unity and peace building to reckon with to make sure that our party, APC is stronger, ready to return to power at both local and state level of government.

“We promise you all and rank-and-file members and the general public that we won’t disappoint you, we are capable to victoriously meet the task ahead. Nothing can be compared with solid broad political base, valuable experience gained over the years in critical areas of administration, grassroots democracy, contacts and development.

“We, once again, sincerely appreciate our teams of erudite counsels for their excellent job done. We are grateful to our party, All Progressives Congress. The victory belonged to the grassroots people of Oyo State who stood firmly by us throughout the legal and political battle. We dedicated the unique victory to our late leader, Senator Abiola Ajimobi.”

The Forum expressed its support to the Supreme Court judgement granting financial autonomy to the local government.

“We fully support local government autonomy as a fundamental necessity to grassroots and national development. But our people should not see the recently granted autonomy by the Supreme Court in the case of the FGN vs State Government as a mere government to government affairs. It is a call to duty, for more popular participation by the people to guarantee free and fair elections, allocations and budget monitoring, projects choice, projects implementation and monitoring. This is to make sure that transparency, integrity and accountability are compromised,” Abass-Alesinloye said.

In their separate remarks, APC Acting Chairman, Chief Moshood Abass, Senator Ayoade Adeseun, Alhaji Fatai Ibikunle and Hon. Asimiyu Alarape, appreciated the chairmen for their doggedness in the course of the struggle.

While emphasizing that Forum 68 is a pointer to reclaim the state come 2027, They charged all relevant stakeholders to work together to achieve the task.

Other leaders, who were in attendance, included Chief Kunle Sanda, Chief Lekan Adeyemo, Alhaji Isiaka Alimi, and Prince Adekanye among others.