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In the past few days, uncertainty enveloped the camps of the two factions within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State. This is due to the national leadership crisis rocking the party, especially with the courts going back and forth on the fate of the embattled National Chairman, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole. His current travail is already impacting the fortunes of the state’s APC, particularly who gets the party’s ticket for the October 10 governorship election.
For the governor of the state, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, the High Court judgment, which stripped Oshiomhole of his position as the national chairman of the party, came as a big relief to him and his supporters. It bolstered his chances of getting a second term ticket. But that was until Monday evening when the Court of Appeal also sitting in Abuja granted a stay of execution and vacated the FCT High Court order restraining Oshiomhole from parading himself as the national chairman. The 4+4 maxim by Akeredolu’s supporters had begun to rent the air.
However, the judicial twist in the tale from the Appeal Court restating Oshiomhole has again dampened festivities in Akeredolu’s camp. For Akeredolu’s political rivalries in APC, who have sworn to wrestle the party’s ticket from him under the aegis of Unity Forum, led by a former deputy governor of the state and member of APC’s Board of Trustee (BoT), Alhaji Ali Olanusi, the High Court judgment was a huge setback. But the appellant court’s pronouncement has restored frayed nerves and they have gone back to the trenches.
Kekemeke, who is a former Commissioner and Secretary to the State Government (SSG), lamented that the present political crisis might impede the chances of the party at the poll. He has distanced himself from the Unity Forum due to the recent aspersions it cast on the National Reconciliation Committee and personality of its chairman, Chief Bisi Akande. Kekemeke, just like the president of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Prof. Dayo Faduyile, who has also declared his governorship intention, stressed that all political gladiators in APC must prioritise the interest of the ruling party above personal ambitions.
“I will not join them to scatter what I laboured for years to build and to put in place this present administration led by Oluwarotimi Akeredolu,” he said. “The party is sacrosanct and we must realise that without the party, no matter how huge and great our ambition is, we cannot achieve it. So, we must be careful not to destroy it. Anyone fighting dirty is an enemy of the party; all factions must sheathe their swords for the sole interest of our great party.”
Meanwhile, the resolve of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to use direct primary option for Ondo and Edo States continues to stir criticism against Oshiomhole.
Ondo State’s APC Assistant Publicity Secretary, Mr. Gbenga Oladimeji, attributed the losses the party suffered in the last general election to the insensitivity and highhandedness of the current party chairman. Oladimeji, who is loyal to the Akeredolu faction and gloated over Oshiomhole’s temporary removal, said it was their belief that the chairman would have consolidated on the 2015 achievements of the party but that he proved disastrous instead.
“A similar embarrassing outing for the party happened in Bayelsa State. The party had worked assiduously to win the majority votes, and was thereby declared the winner of the election.”
While speaking on the direct primaries option for Ondo State governorship election, which many political observers believe is the final handwriting on the wall against Akeredolu’s second term, Oladimeji described it as a “charade”.
Many political observers have interpreted Governor Akeredolu’s moves during his third year anniversary against his political adversaries as a giveaway on the orchestrated plot to oust Oshiomhole. The embattled governor had rebuffed the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu-led peace move and the National Reconciliation Committee headed by the former interim chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande.
The governor urged his supporters to be wary of members of the Unity Forum led by Olanusi, especially the third term Senator representing his district, Prof. Boroffice. He noted that he had drawn a battle line with the group. He taunted and threw jabs at the Olanusi-led group, saying a deputy governor and chairman of a political party could not tar a kilometre of road in his community but claimed to control the majority of the electorate.
In his words “We will fight them no matter their age. How could a man of over 70 years be ganging up against a performing government? We will win with or without them.”
DESPITE the previous High Court judgment, which ordered Oshiomhole to step down as chairman, the APC Unity Forum had already constituted a Candidate Emergence Committee to produce a consensus candidate against Akeredolu. The seven-man committee, include Senator Yele Omogunwa and Professor Wale Ehindero as Chairman and Secretary respectively. It has Mike Adeyeye, Ajiroba Boye Adegbemisoye, Solagbade Amodeni, Afe Olowokere, and Mrs. Bose Iyantan as members.
Chairman of the group, Olanusi, urged the committee to take their membership as a call to duty because the state needed to stop the torrential of capital flight that characterizes the present administration in the state. He decried the ravaging poverty that has pervaded all spheres of human endeavour through the insensitivity of Akeredolu government to the yearnings of the people.
Speaking on the Unity Forum’s consolidation on a consensus candidate, Babaleye said: “They said Unity Forum does not count, yet on hearing the outcome of just one meeting, they are becoming jittery. They call the meeting a gang up. I wish to ask them, what is politics? Is it not about ganging up? They said they are no more interested in peace meeting yet they expect people that they have chased out of their own party to fold their arms and do nothing.
“They cannot kill all of us at the same time and we are now putting on red based on their threat so that even when they pour the “oil” it won’t show on our apparels.”
However, secretary of the fact-finding sub-committee of APC Advisory Council, Chief Bode Sumonu, instituted to look into how to resolve the crisis, assured that the ruling party would amicably resolve its internal crisis. Sumonu stated that the committees put in place by the leadership of the party, both at the national and state levels, would be able to resolve the internal crisis before the October 10, 2020 governorship poll.
“The Advisory Committee met of recent and we noticed that the issues surrounding the crisis in the party are resolvable. On the issue of how to put forward, a committee of five people was put in place. We were asked to call people to come out with their grievances and see how we can move forward and I happen to be the secretary of that committee.
“We put up an advertisement and contacted party members, chairmen of the party at the ward level, asking them to come forward with memoranda on what they believe caused the crisis within the party and how to resolve it and move forward. We have received beautiful responses and we are analysing, and maybe in the next one or two weeks, we will be able to advise the Advisory Committee on the way forward.
“It’s a family issue and we have nowhere else to drive ourselves because we do not have any other party. And more importantly, APC is the only party in Ondo State, the most viable party.”
He also spoke on the rejection of Chief Bisi Akande as the head of the National Reconciliatory Committee of the party by Unity Forum, saying the group spoke of anger. He said the allegation leveled against Akande could not be substantiated, adding, “What I understand is that when you’re angry, don’t talk. And when you’re very happy, don’t make promises. So, I am sure they (Unity Forum) talked when they were angry.
“If you ask me of any Unity Forum, I will refer to the Advisory Council, led by Chief Akinyelure and Chief Isaacs Kekemeke as the Unity Forum where all aggrieved members come together to resolve issues. If these people had been patient enough, maybe they probably won’t say what they said. If you take a look at their communiqué, they said Chief Akande is on the payroll of Akeredolu.
“I don’t know how that can be substantiated anyway and I don’t know what effect that would be to anybody. Akande is the chairman of the reconciliation committee and it is not the governor’s committee. It is an independent committee put together to see to the challenges of APC in Ondo State and find ways of resolving the issues and it is not as bad as people look at it.”
