A group within the Ondo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Youth Advocacy Network (YAN) on Thursday slammed the Elders of the party in the state over their blame game for the party’s loss in the last Presidential and National Assembly election in the state to opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The group who stated this in a press statement signed by its Chairman and Secretary, Akinleye Olabanji and Gbenga Bayode respectively, said the Elders and some leaders of the party in the state should be held responsible for the woeful performance of the party in the election.
The group who exonerated the state governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, over the loss in the election, alleged that the leaders and Elders are economical with the truth saying the leaders showed no genuine commitment towards the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The group, however, said, ” rather than blaming Akeredolu for Buhari’s lost in Ondo State, the said leaders, should be held responsible for the defeat, for showing no genuine commitments toward the re-election of Mr President.
“We want to state unequivocally that Akeredolu and the Party State Executive led by Engr. Ade Adetimehin is loyal and fully committed to the re-election project of President Muhammadu Buhari.
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Speaking on the efforts of Akeredolu in ensuring victory for the party in the state, the group said “you will recall that governors were made State Coordinators for the President’s re-election and Akeredolu immediately swung into action by inaugurating the Campaign committee at the state level. Members of this committee include Chief Olusola Oke, Senator Ajayi Boroffice, while Engr Ife Oyedele was made the Secretary.
“We will like to inform you that logistics which include funds, branded campaign buses and others materials were made available by the governor to assist members of this campaign committee in mobilizing the party members across the 18 local governments.
“Apart from this, the governor toured the three senatorial districts to sell the candidature of Buhari to the electorates and also accompanied the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, for three days to some communities in the state where they preached the gospel of the next level to the people.”
According to the group “many of these leaders are on a vendatta mission against the governor following the defeat they suffered during their anti-party activities in the 2016 governorship’s election when they worked for AD against their own party (APC).
“It is on record that many of these leaders, who jumped ship from APC to AD during the governorship election in 2016, contributed nothing to the re-election of Mr President except wailing on the pages of newspapers.”
The challenged them “to publish results of their various polling units for the whole world to see.
We want to inform you that many of them lost their polling units to the PDP during the Presidential poll because they are paperweight politicians in their respective local government.”
The group called on the National Secretariat of APC and the general public to ignore the leaders, “who are hellbent on destroying the good image already built by Akeredolu led’s administration for the party in the state.”
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