Ondo Election: Absence of Tinubu, Osinbajo, others at Ondo rally shows division in APC – AD

7 years ago

Ondo Election: Absence of Tinubu, Osinbajo, others at Ondo rally shows division in APC – AD

Despite the physical presence of President Muhammadu Buhari at Saturday’s mega rally of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Akure, the Ondo State capital, the Alliance for Democracy, AD, in the state has described the event as an “ignominious failure,” adding that the intractable crisis within the APC was noticeable during the governorship rally.

Recall that a national leader of the APC, Tinubu was noticeably absent at the party’s governorship campaign rally in Akure, which was also not attended by three APC governors in the South-West, namely: Mr. Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos, Senator Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo and Mr. Rauf Aregbosola of Osun State.

Reacting to this in a statement, the state secretary of AD, Dr Sola Agboola, asserted that the failure of Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, Vice President Yemi Osibajo, Senator Ajayi Boroffice, and three out of the four APC governors in the South-West at the grand finale of the APC campaign indicated that there was division in the party.

While claiming that the APC supporters and crowd at the rally were imported from the neighbouring South-West and Edo states, he said it will make APC lose by a wide margin in the election to AD candidate, Chief Olusola Oke.

The statement reads, “When they held their mega rally in Akure last week, it was obvious that the party was in tatters as virtually all its leaders stayed away from the event.

“Because they were afraid of our own rally which witnessed an unprecedented crowd in the annals of politics in Ondo State, they decided to have a second bite by holding this rally only for their highly polarised party to be exposed again as party chieftains and public office holders loyal to APC national leader, Bola Tinubu, again shunned the mega rally of the APC candidate, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, in Akure.

“Even the Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Ondo APC chairman, Mr Isaac Kekemeke, who sources said, made up their minds to attend the event at the last minute, looked more of strangers at the event, as the uniformed fabric (aso ebi) for the occasion was missing on them.

“One would have thought that they would have put their house in order before this event, to at least, save their face. But the reverse is the case; gutter language and arrant display of ignorance by speakers after speakers at the event even made a lot cower in disbelief.

“For instance, the APC Governors Forum chairman and Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, exhibited crass ignorance by telling the gathering that Akeredolu was the most educated among the governorship candidates.

“This, in his warped reasoning means that with his first degree, Akeredolu is more educated than even a PhD holder like Dr Olu Agunloye of the Social Democratic Party (SDP)?

“Even, the Kano State governor, Abdulahi Umar Ganduje, also exhibited ignorance when he said Ondo State voted for PDP in the 2012 governorship election. That is the class of people who want to overrun Ondo State.”