A Chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Chief Olusola Oke, on Monday, called on the State governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, to warn his aides against heating up the polity in the state or use the state as a battleground to settle personal scores.
Oke who stated this in a statement signed by his media aide, Mr Rotimi Ogunleye, said the call became imperative in order to caution the aides of the governor from throwing further invectives at the leaders of the party in the state and the national level without any restraint.
According to Oke, it would be better if the governor’s aides can rise above the level of blame trade by accepting the reality on ground and “offer a remorseful apology to the appropriate quarters just like the party and the government did before the State House of Assembly elections, and our party will be great again.
The statement read “the attempt to vent their anger on Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a respected leader of the APC, through indecorous interviews and press statements by the aides of governor Akeredolu, is unbecoming of a party man who has benefited from the government of the party that Asiwaju and other prominent leaders of APC laboured so hard to put in place.
” Oke is of the firm opinion that as APC members of the southwest extraction, party elders, especially the one that has made huge sacrifices capable of making the platform of APC to endure and the national chairman of our great party, deserve respect and honour at all times.
The former governorship aspirant of APC observed that the governor’s silence over the vituperations coming from his aides showed that the governor approves their invectives, otherwise the governor should have called them to order.
Oke specifically frowned over the current interview granted by the Special Adviser to Barrister Akeredolu, in the Sunday Tribune edition of May 5th, 2019, saying, apart from the trend of noticeable innuendos and name-calling by the people in the government arm of the state chapter of the APC in the immediate past, has stretched our silence to its limit”
The statement stated that “the deliberate silence of Oke all this while is premised on the need for peace in the party. Moreover, being an experienced party administrator, Chief Oke understands the irredeemable havoc that internal bickering, gossips and power conflict can wreck on a political party, especially anyone in power.”
Oke noted that Adebayo in the interview “made a futile attempt at burying the ghost of the 2016 primary election and also tinkering with the idea of trivialising the unfruitful stint some APC leaders had in the Action Alliance (AA) in the last election.”
Oke recalled that he and others aspirants protested against the outcome of the primary election of APC in 2016, on the ground that it was fraught with frauds, which was upheld by National Appeal Panel of the party.
He said “Instead of justice, our protest was met with more unfairness and injustice. In the end, the minority overruled the majority.
We lack the tolerance for that level of injustice where five was greater than six, hence the resolve of Chief Oke and his supporters to exit the APC for the Alliance for Democracy (AD) voluntarily. He and his supporters did not stay in the party to throw dirt and undermine its effort.
“Just as the people have thought that the story of AD has become a part of history, the aides of the governor, in an attempt to defend the foray into the Action Alliance by those that are aggrieved, has unearthed the hitherto dead story. They have since resorted to making the case of Chief Oke’s defection to AD as a potent defence for the AA adventure.
“It should be noted here that referring to the movement of Chief Oke and his supporters across the state to the AD and using same as a celebrated basis for shifting the body of blame at this time defeats their claims to courage.
“This denial can only show lack of determination and attempt to evade responsibility. There is no perfect human anywhere. What defines us is our ability to accept responsibility for our actions and seek redress whenever we have gone wrong.”
He said further “Since his return, Oke has maintained an unhidden conciliatory posture. He has avoided being part of the budding conflict among the groups and tendencies in the state chapter despite open intimidation, stigmatisation and attempt to clamp down on him and the crowd of supporters that came with him to the APC by the leaders of the party and government in the state.
“This is not uncommon with his experience as a good party administrator and understanding of the infertile game played by boys who seek relevance and patronage at the corridor of power.
“While Kunle Adebayo in his narratives attempted to heap a mountain of blames on the National Leaders of APC, he has quickly forgotten how the last congress of the party in Ondo state was subverted and party positions cornered by only a group within the state chapter from the state to the unit level.
“Despite all of these, in agreement with other leaders of the party, Chief Oke has met with the leadership of APC, both at the state and national levels, appealing that a broad-based platform is created for assimilation and unity of purpose. This the party leadership has paid little or no attention to, especially in Ondo state.”
The statement read “While it is not our wish to join issues with anybody despite their innuendoes and inanities, we take exemptions to the recent attempt to use our defection to the AD to justify the Action Alliance (AA) misadventure.
“As a politician of modest grassroots appeal, Oke has contested elections in the state and he does not need to be prodded by anybody before taking political decisions. He only needs to have lateral consultations across the board before making any political move.”
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