Ondo APC chair: ‘Akeredolu responsible for my removal’

FOLLOWING the suspension of the Ondo State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon Isaac Kekemeke, on Tuesday petitioned the South West Zonal Committee of the party, accusing the state governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, of fuelling the crisis within the party.

Kekemeke who stated this in the petition made available to journalists noted that Governor Akeredolu has refused to put behind him the controversy surrounding his emergence as the gubernatorial candidate of the party last year.

He said the governor has been using government machineries to vilify those who perceived not to be in his camp during the last part election of the Party

The APC chairman said: “Clearly; this song with its familiar and cacophonic tune was scripted by Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu; Governor of Ondo State; who has refused to break-away from the bitterness and vestige of the Ondo State APC gubernatorial primary election.

“He has therefore deployed state machinery to vilify perceived enemies; resulting in this latest choreography with a macabre sense of humour.”

But the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Akeredolu, Mr Segun Ajiboye, while reacting to the allegation said Governor Akeredolu has been busy in the administration of the state and absolved him of the allegation.

According to Ajiboye, the suspension of the chairman was purely party affairs and said the embattled chairman should look towards the leadership of the party for his present predicament.

He said “The governor is too busy to be involved in the administration of the state and the party at the same time. The chairman should look elsewhere, as the governor will not interfere in the affairs of the party.”

However, Kekemeke maintained that he remained the chairman of the party in the state, describing the action of some members of the state executive calling for his removal as “unconstitutional and most unconscionable”.

He said, “Against the clear spirit and intention of the constitution of the All Progressives Congress 2014 as amended; a few members of the State Executive Committee purportedly met on 1st June; 2017 in a hotel at Akure; allegedly suspended the State Chairman of the party; and appointed the state deputy chairman as acting chairman.

“In the enforcement of this huge joke on the Party; the Administrative Secretary of the Party was violently dispossessed of all the keys to the offices in the Ondo State APC Secretariat with the assistance of law enforcement agents.

“It must be noted however; that no meeting of the State Executive Committee was never called by either the State Chairman or the State Working Committee; neither was there a complaint nor petition by any member against the Chairman or any other officer received; to necessitate the invoking of the disciplinary procedure as provided for by Article 21(B) of the APC Constitution.

He said further “We are however baffled that such a respected and respectable organ of our party created by the Constitution for noble ends; could be wrongly and maliciously appropriated by a few misguided and unqualified elements without regards to the clear constitutional requirements of the mode and composition of that organ.

“And most shockingly; with the active connivance of the State Governor; who ought to know better; but is only bent on re-enacting his position immediately before the Ondo State APC gubernatorial primary election.

“We are quick to draw your attention to this ongoing political experiment because of the danger it poses to the health of our party in the state, zone and nation at large.”

He, however, called for the intervention of the South West zonal committee of the party to nip the crisis in the bud saying “your intervention in accordance with Article 13.5(i) and 21(B)(V) of the constitution of the party can prevent the implosion that is waiting to happen.

“We remain resolute to resist this war of attrition with its attendant consequences on our party now and in the future.”