An All Progressives Congress chieftain in Ekiti State and former House of Representatives member, Oyetunde Ojo, on Friday accused the party leadership in the state of plotting anti-democratic manipulations that he said could lead to imposition in the coming congress.
Ojo, who is a son-in-law of the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, alleged that the Ekiti State Government, led by Governor Kayode Fayemi, had begun “the process of compiling names of his preferred officials from ward to state levels in an attempt to impose and frustrate the congresses.”
This was as the APC in the state, at a ceremony performed by the state chairman, Paul Omotoso, on Friday, inaugurated a seven-member electoral committee headed by Chief Samuel Abejide.
Omotoso said the committee would assist members of the National Congress Committee assigned to the state to monitor and coordinate congresses in the state and as well ensure a hitch-free and successful congress.
However, Ojo accused the party leadership of sharp practices ahead of the congress.
He alleged, “The state government has directed that all ward meetings and such other party gatherings be stopped forthwith to block all dissents from raising objections, so that he could coast home with the names of his loyalists for the congresses.
“We are calling on the National Caretaker Committee of our party, the leaders of the APC, to be alive to this subterranean move and act accordingly as the people have resolved not to allow any such imposition in our party again.
“Never again shall we fold our arms and watch our rights being taken by fiat by a governor whose loyalty to the APC is in doubt. Never shall we allow a governor who once robbed us of our hard-earned victory in 2014 to force us into another political Siberia.”
But the state APC Publicity Secretary, Ade Ajayi, said the committee was specifically composed to conduct free, fair and credible congresses in the state, saying the former federal lawmaker, who had been suspended from the party, lacked moral standing to make such a statement.
Ajayi said, “We are assuring our people that the congresses will be free and fair. That is the focus of the committee. Nobody will be marginalised.
“We will follow the party’s constitution to conduct the congress that will accommodate all members and tendencies.”
Source: Punch
