Akeredolu ‘Spearheading’ Ondo APC Crisis, Party Chairman Says

Mr. Kekemeke in a petition addressed to the regional office of the party on Tuesday, said that the governor was spearheading the crisis within the party.

The troubled chairman stated that Akeredolu still holds grudges against party members who did not support his governorship candidacy, following the controversy surrounding his emergence as the gubernatorial candidate in the Ondo2016 party primaries.

Mr. Akeredolu won the primaries, and the eventual election, in controversial circumstance despite the opposition of some party leaders including Mr. Kekemeke and former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu.

“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,” the party chairman said.

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

Mr. Kekemeke was controversially suspended by some members of the state executive committee over allegations of anti-party activities and dereliction of duty as chairman of the party.

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

“It must be noted, however, that no meeting of the State Executive Committee was ever 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,” Mr. Kekemeke said.

“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.”

The Chief Press Secretary to Mr. Akeredolu, Segun Ajiboye, denied that the governor was involved in the current travails of the chairman.

Meanwhile, Akeredolu’s Chief Press Secretary, Segun Ajiboye, denied the governor’s involvement in the suspension of the party chairman, saying Kekemeke’s suspension was purely a party affair.

“The governor is too busy to be involved in the administration of the state and the party at the same time,” said Mr. Ajiboye.

“The chairman should look elsewhere, as the governor will not interfere in the affairs of the Party.”