As the governorship election in Ondo State is approaching, some chieftains of the All Progressives Congress in the state under the aegis of the APC Unity Forum have united against the re-election bid of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.
The group said it would present a strong and credible candidate for the party’s primary election scheduled to hold in July according to a timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission on Friday.
A key member of the group and the Senator representing the Ondo North Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Ajayi Boroffice, said the APC Unity Forum, which comprises aggrieved members of the party, would present the standard bearer of the party in the forthcoming governorship poll.
Boroffice stated this in Akure, the state capital, on Saturday during his empowerment programme for women in the Ondo Central and Ondo South senatorial districts.
The deputy majority leader of the senate noted that members of the Unity Forum were currently working together to present a consensus aspirant to slug it out with Akeredolu at the party’s primary, coming up in few months.
He said, “We in Unity Group of APC in Ondo State will have one person to vie for the primary of the party.
“It may be Chief Olusola Oke, Jimi Odimayo, Ife Oyedele, Olusegun Abraham or Bukola Adetula. It can even be me or anybody in the group since we have a common goal of presenting a credible candidate for the party in the coming election.”
On the empowerment programme, Boroffice explained that four women from each local government area of the Ondo Central and Ondo South senatorial districts received cash of N50,000 each while two women from each local government area of the districts were also given grinding machines to boost their livelihoods.
Also speaking after the programme, an aspirant and member of the Unity Forum, Chief Bukoka Adetula, said the incumbent governor had exhausted all the ideas he had in the last three years and deserved no second term.
Adetula, a United States-based lawyer, who is a kinsman to Akeredolu, corroborated Boroffice, saying the Unity Forum would produce the candidate of the party in the governorship election.
Meanwhile, a former Chairman of the Ondo State APC, Isaacs Kekemeke, has promised to accept the decision of the Chief Bisi Akande reconciliation committee regarding the crisis in the party in the state, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
Kekemeke, who is targeting the party’s ticket for the October 10 governorship poll in the state, passed a vote of confidence in the committee.
He said the reports on social media that the panel would be biased was baseless.
According to him, most of the members of the APC Advisory Council in the state had distanced themselves from the reports.
Kekemeke said, “Such comments do not represent our own feelings or what we think as members of the advisory council. That is the unity group I know in the state.”
“The APC advisory council under the chairmanship of Ali Olanusi will work with the panel to bring genuine reconciliation to the party.
“Everyone who loves the party, young and old, should pursue the path of peace.
“This does not mean that we have supported the second term ambition of Governor (Rotimi) Akeredolu.”
He said the core mandate of the council was to bring every member of the party together as a big family to build a formidable team during the election.
