Professor Yemi Osinbajo ; national leaders of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Chief Bisi Akande were absent at the flag-off campaign of the party’s governorship candidate, Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF, Babachir Lawal, stood in for President Buhari. Akeredolu Among the four South-West APC governors only Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun
State was present. Also only one of the two Senators representing the state and only one of the five
House of Representatives members attended the ceremony. Senator Tayo Alasoadura and House of Representatives member, Dr Bode Ayorinde attended while Senator Ajayi Boroffice and Dr Olusegun Abraham, who is contesting the outcome of the governorship primaries with Akeredolu, shunned the event. Senate President Olubukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu
Dogara, were equally absent. Vanguard gathered that the absence of key chieftains of the party may not be unconnected with the crisis trailing the emergence of Akeredolu as the candidate of the party. The crisis, which has divided the party from the national level to the state chapter, got to a head
when Asiwaju Tinubu asked Odigie-Oyegun to resign for undemocratically “imposing” Akeredolu over other 24 aspirants. Tinubu had preferred Dr Olusegun Abraham to emerge as the candidate but he came second. Abraham has dragged Akeredolu before a Federal High Court in Abuja. Some of the aggrieved governorship aspirants have refused to support Akeredolu following the manner the
NEC of the party allegedly “imposed” him despite the order for fresh primaries by the appeal panel on the ground that delegate list was padded. While some leaders stuck to their guns, many others have reluctantly joined Akeredolu. To bring those aggrieved back to the party, Akeredolu has
included them in his campaign organisation while reconciliation committees have been raised in the three senatorial districts of the state. However, four other governors – Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Kebbi; Aminu Tambuwal, Sokoto; Mohammed Abubakar, Bauchi; Kashim Shettima, Borno and some ministers attended the campaign flag- off. There were also Deputy National Leader of APC, Chief Segun Oni; National Vice Chairman (South-West), Chief Pius Akinyelure; Ministers of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige; Health Minister, Prof Isaac Adewole; Communication Minister,
Adebayo Shittu; Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Usani Uguru Usani, Prof Claudius Daramola. Alhaji Ali Olanusi and Dr Pius Osunyikanmi, Former governors of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi and Otunba Niyi Adebayo and Senator Olorunnmibe Mamora among others were there. Speaking at the
ceremony, Odigie-Oyegun said the state is too strategic to the Federal Government to be left in the hands of an opposition party. “Ondo State is important to the Federal Government. Akeredolu is part of the APC’s Federal Government so Ondo state should not be allowed to continue with opposition
politics. The national Chairman said the array of people that witnessed the flag off rally showed the importance attached to the realization of Akeredolu’s governorship ambition. According to him the state should join its counterpart in the South-West states in the mainstream of Nigeria’s politics.
Speaking, the Ogun state governor Amosun preached unity among APC leaders in the state in order to deliver the state to the governing party at the National level. “Those angry should please forget the past and work together so that opposition political parties would not have edge over us.’’ The State
Chairman of the party Isaacs Kekemeke said the state would join other progressive states by voting Akeredolu as governor. According to Kekemeke the people of the state have resolved that the next governor to succeed Governor Olusegun Mimiko is Akeredolu. Akeredolu and his deputy Agboola Ajayi were handed the party’s flag by the SGF. In his acceptance speech, Akeredolu said with the
support of the people of the state and the party’s leaders, he will win the election. He promised massive employment through agriculture, regular payment of salary, gratuity and pension, if elected.
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