Quick Facts
Biography
Abdukareem Adebisi Bamidele Akande ("Bisi Akande"") was a governor of Osun State, Nigeria from 1999–2003, as a member of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) party, and was the first interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress.
Background
Chief Adebisi Akande was born in Ila Orangun on 16 January 1939 in what is now the Osun Central Senatorial district. Akande was deputy governor of Oyo State between 1979 and 1983 when Bola Ige was governor (Osun State was formerly part of Oyo State). He was elected on the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) platform.
Akande was described as the nephew of Chief Bola Ige.
Governorship
Adebisi Akande was elected governor of Osun State in April 1999, running for the Alliance for Democracy (AD) party, which had recently formed as a political arm of the Yoruba socio-cultural organization Afenifere. He succeeded Col. Theophilus Bamigboye, who had been named as the military administrator of the State in August 1998, and who handed over power on 29 May 1999. On 31 May 1999 Adebisa Akande inaugurated the second Assembly in Osun State.
In January 2000, the Osun State government sacked 143 staff of the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation, following the governor’s earlier vow to trim the state’s work force. Adebisi Akande dissolved the state Council of Obas and Chiefs in 2001, on the ground that it was too large. The dissolution may have been caused by a dispute between the then head of the royal council, the Ooni of Ile-Ife and Akande, in turn part of a face-off between Akande and the deputy governor, Iyiola Omisore.
A November 2001 appraisal of Osun State said that Adebisi Akande was battling an unfriendly work force, and the state was also troubled by long-standing violence between the Ife and Modakeke clans. However, Akande had implemented his party's programs for providing free education and free medical care, and had improved water supplies. A different appraisal, two months later, noting the governor had recently survived an impeachment attempt, said that rather than improving social services and generating employment, after two years in power Akande had implemented massive staff lay offs in the public service, and had caused virtual collapse of public infrastructure.
On 24 December 2001 Akande's supporter Bola Ige, the minister of justice, was murdered in his house in Ibadan. The newspaper This Day said that the murder could have been linked to the feud between Akande and the deputy governor Iyiola Omisore. The murder followed another murder the previous week of Osun State legislator Odunayo Olagbaju, who was bludgeoned to death outside his home. Olagbaju was a supporter of Omisore.
Adebisa Akande ran again for election in 2003, but was defeated by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola of the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
Later career
In late 2003, rival factions of the AD held separate conventions. In the Lagos convention, Adebisi Akande was elected as AD chairman. In January 2006, the convoy of AD leaders who supported Chief Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa faction instead of Chief Adebisi Akande as the party's national chairman was attacked by thugs in Osogbo, the capital of Osun State. In a February 2006 interview, former Senator Moji Akinfenwa verbally attacked Akande and denied that he was head of the AD. Discussing Akande's feud with his deputy, Iyiola Omisore, he acknowledged that most of the funding for Akande’s governorship campaign was donated by Omisore, but said it was a serious error to have accepted him as a running mate.
In June 2005, Akande attended an International Conference on Sustainable Democracy in Nigeria held at the Imperial College, London. In October 2005, Akande visited the USA to meet with AD supporters in the Nigerian diaspora.
Speaking in July 2006, Akande attacked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which he implied was not acting impartially. He defended the AD, which he said was stronger even than it had been in 1999. He called for a more decentralized, federal form of government.
Speaking in February 2009, Akande said the only solution to hostage-taking in the Niger Delta area was to give youths employment opportunities, and to involve them in decision making. He cautioned against a military solution, saying in the past the military had looted the nation's treasury and impoverished the people. Speaking in favour of democracy, he stated that when the AD governors accepted President Olusegun Obasanjo's request to avoid local council polls, they fell into a trap. Obasanjo was able to select delegates who helped him win the 2003 elections.
In October 2009, the Osun State Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Jelili Adesiyan, blamed the poor performance of Osun State students in examinations on the administration of Chief Adebisi Akande, whom he asserted had neglected the schools.
In September 2006, the 'Bisi Akande faction merged with other opposition parties to form the Action Congress Party, which later changed their name to the Action Congress of Nigeria.
In February 2013 the party announced plans to merge with the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).