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Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State and former Commissioner for Regional Integration in Osun State, Mr Bola Iloru has advised Ondo State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu to exonerate the national leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
and former Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola from his current political crisis. Ilori who noted that Akeredolu was the architect of his own misfortunes, said the current travails of Governor Akeredolu in the APC was caused by his arrogance and lack of respect for others. In a statement entitled, “Akeredolu, a victim of his own agabagebe” issued yesterday, Ilori stated that Akeredolu was being haunted by his past actions, adding that the governor was not committed to the ideology of the party since he assumed office. The Governor was allegedly suspended from the party by the National Working Committee (NWC) over alleged anti party activities, although he denied the suspension, saying he was not formally notified of his suspension from the party.
Ilori said “Akeredolu’s vengeful and vindictive attitude is the cause of all the troubles in Ondo APC. Conscience is an open wound. It would be strange for a man that has become governor for years to still be bellyaching over an intra-party primary that preceded his tenure, if not for the fact that his conscience is never at rest with the open exposure of the fraud that lined his way to the Government House.”
According to him “it will be recalled that the party’s appeal panel annulled the primaries that produced Akeredolu due to glaring fraud. The NWC of the party never agreed to the emergence of Akeredolu but the Oyegun/Saraki conspiracy of the era unilaterally submitted the name of Akeredolu to INEC and subsequently mobilized huge funds for his “see and buy” victory thereby imposing a “made-in-Abuja” governor on Ondo State.” The statement reads further “Some of us could not stand such shenanigan led by Chief John Odigie-Oyegun. We followed the party’s internal mechanism, but it was unilaterally terminated by the then national chairman.
“Subsequently, we left the party in the expression of our democratic rights on the platform of another party in agitation against the clear injustice. We lost the elections. It was reported on national headlines that the vindictive governor organized an attack on me at the venue of an official government assignment.
“We were to go to court, but some elders of the party led by Chief Bisi Akande, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief Pius Akinyelure and so on intervened and appealed to all aggrieved against the gubernatorial election processes to drop all further agitation and return to the party and embrace unity. The governor thereafter organized a unity rally and I attended.
“Chief Olusola Oke has since been working hard for the success of the party and was the South West Coordinator of the APC Presidential Campaign, while I, who was his Director General in the Alliance for Democracy was the Chairman of the APC Presidential Campaign Council (Field Operations) Door to Door Campaign throughout the Country.
“Akeredolu’s anti-party activity would have been justifiable as a payback, were it to be that their mischief were directed against either Chief Olusola Oke or Bola Ilori, but neither of us were on the ballot but President Buhari and our National Assembly members. So it was a deliberate sabotage against the fortune of the party.
“I laugh at how, in their confusion and desperate search for justification, they misguide themselves with falsehood and hope it will turn to truth in an era of Google Search Engine. Let me put it on record; if they are too lazy to google, I was not holding any position in the party or government six months before and after the 2016 elections, contrary to their claims that I was in Osun Government while in AD, Osun had no cabinet for about 16 months at the time. So, dragging Aregbesola into their justification of treachery is not only based on falsehood but pure mischief,” the statement read.
