A group within the Ondo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Unity Forum, has kicked against the choice of the former governor of Osun State and the pioneer National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, as the Chairman of the National Reconciliation Committee of the party.
The group who made this known in a communique issued at the end of its meeting in Akure, Ondo state capital, protested against the reconstituted 12-Member Reconciliation Committee, announced by the national leadership of the party.
In a communique signed by the convener of the group, former deputy governor of the state, Alhaji Ali Olanusi, the group passed a vote of no confidence on Akande, saying the former governor of Osun state is on the payroll of Ondo State governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu.
The communique read “the meeting reviewed the replacement of the Senate President with His Excellency Chief Bisi Akande as the Chairman of APC National Reconciliation Committee and pass a vote of no confidence on Chief Akande as the Chairman of the Committee. This is because the said Chief Bisi Akande is on the payroll of Ondo State governor.
“Chief Akande was part of the reconciliation committee that met with the party leadership in Ondo State in July 2019 at Heritage Hotel Akure where it was agreed that the party executive in the state be dissolved but up till this moment, the governor through some of our leaders have been blocking the dissolution that was jointly agreed on in the presence of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu our National Leader, His Excellency Aremo Segun Osoba, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Pius Akinyelure, His Excellency Dr Kayode Fayemi the Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum and Pastor Oluwajana the South-West Chairman of All Progressives Congress.
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Olanusi maintained that the constitution of the committee, is unacceptable, noting that some of those selected as members were interested parties in some of the crisis flashpoints, and cannot be neutral in carrying out the task.
“The Unity Forum for the umpteenth time reaffirms the stand and the outcome of the July 2019 Heritage Hotel meeting presided over by our National Leader, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu where it was agreed that the Executive of APC from State to Ward be dissolved as a prelude to peace and precondition for any party primary in Ondo State”
The group also distanced itself from the local government election in the state, slated for April this year, saying every other group within the party had been sidelined, and “the election is not in the interest of our party”
They described “the whole electoral process as a charade, an aberration, contraption and complete departure from what APC stands for.
“The Unity Forum wishes to let the whole world know that even though it is made up of over 80 per cent of the party members in Ondo State, neither the governor nor the APC chairman in the state carried the members along with about the proposed Local Government Election.
“That the meeting condemns in totality the said forthcoming Local Government Election and make bold to say that it is only Team Aketi that is organizing local government election for itself and its few followers and not APC Ondo state”
The communique further stated, “that the Unity Forum condemned the setting up of an Advisory Council in APC Ondo state as the composition of the council did not reflect the real membership spread of the party in Ondo state but the “yes men” and cabinet members of the governor of Ondo state except in one or two local governments.
The group, however, called on the national leadership of the party to “do justice to the party in Ondo state instead of searching for peace, this is because if justice is done, peace will naturally return as peace without justice is like a ‘peace of the graveyard’”
However, a governorship aspirant on the platform of APC and a member of the unity forum declared his intention to contest the forthcoming governorship election in the state, expressing optimism of beating Akeredolu at the primary.
He assured that there will be a new lease of life after the governorship election and predicted victory for the party at the poll.
He said: “We have reached out. We have consulted people, leaders, grassroots, women, youths and professionals across the length and breadth of Ondo State and we are convinced that for the sake of the people, for the interest of the good people of Ondo State, we must do what we believe we have to do to help and develop Ondo state.
“We have what it takes to bring meaningful changes to the lives of people in the state and that is why we are saying we must seek the nomination form of our party to contest the 2020 Ondo governorship election.”
He noted that Akeredolu has done his best in administering the state but said “I guess his best was not good enough”
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