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The All Progressives Congress (APC) held its ward congress on May 5th to elect executives for the wards in all states of the federation.
In some states the congress went on smoothly and successful, whereas it was rancorous in many states, marred with irregularities.
In Oyo State, since the congresses Saturday there have been accusations and counter accusations concerning the exercise.
The state government and leadership of the APC in the pacesetter state have adjudged the ward congresses held across the state as peaceful, free and fair but a Unity Group within the APC has cried foul.
The Unity faction says they have been oppressed, marginalised within the party and people who have been cheated in several ways by the leadership of the government, produced by the party.
Governor Abiola Ajimobi, has alleged the latest media propaganda by the self-styled Unity Forum of the All Progressives Congress is a desperate attempt to rubbish the result of the ward congresses, which was successfully held across the state.
The governor said that it was on record that the so-called unity forum adjudged the election to be free, credible and fair in an advertorial published in a national daily and even went ahead to congratulate the congress committee for a job well done.
Ajimobi added that other stakeholders, including himself, congress committee and the leadership of the party hailed the conduct of the ward congress and would, therefore, have no reason to seek to influence the results.
According to the governor, it was inconceivable that the same unity forum can make a sudden u-turn to accuse the governor of attempting to doctor the outcome of the election.
Having attested to the integrity of the congress committee, it is therefore, illogical and surprising that the unity forum can now be crying wolf where there is none.
In a statement by the Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy to the governor, Bolaji Tunji, said: “This shameless act by this dissident group has exposed their level of desperation and extent they are willing to go to mislead the public about the true picture of events leading to the ward congress.
“For the avoidance of doubt, all eligible members of the APC obtained the nomination form before it closed and actively participated in the election as attested to by the congress committee chairman.
“During the press briefing addressed by the Musa Halilu-Ahmed-led congress committee, no issue of fake forms or undue interference from any quarter was reported, which informed his verdict.
“Rather than resorting to wild and unsubstantiated claims, the unity forum should have availed itself of the opportunity provided by the appeal committee put in place by the national leadership of the APC to register their grievances.”
According to the statement, “The claim that some loyalists of the governor brought thugs to the APC secretariat was an attempt to stand facts on their head. The APC members that gathered at the secretariaton Saturday were very clear in their understanding that it was the aggrieved group and political charlatans that brought hoodlums to the venue to disrupt the stakeholders’ meeting.
“I think they should be told that elections are not won on the pages of the newspaper, but through hard work on the field. This was the approach adopted by loyal APC members that participated in the election.
“I will not join them to tout imaginary numbers of membership strength, because it is infantile and needless. When the chips are down, we will separate the boys from the men.”
But Adebayo Shittu, minister of Communications, one of those crying foul over the ward congresses said the party was broken into two factions, saying “we have the Ajimobi faction called the SENACO faction, which means Senator Ajimobi and we have the Unity faction within the party.”
Shittu said: “When the congress was ordered, the instruction of the guideline was that anybody interested in pursuing any position should collect, pay for the forms and then participate in the congress.
“Because many leaders in the country are used to the practice of impunity in the selection of people into positions, the SENACO people led by the governor did not pay for the collection of the forms as at Fridaythe last working day before the congress.”
According to him, “The committee set up for the congress arrived Oyo on Friday but because they arrived late, they had called for a stakeholders’ meeting on Saturday morning. What we understood was that when the committee visited Ajimobi on Friday, he told them that the party in Oyo State was one family and there was not going to be elections and as such they had compiled the names which would form the list of officers as agreed by the entire party.”
He further pointed out that what it means is that he was not prepared for the congress, saying that he attempted to give the list to the committee which we understood rejected it on the ground that they were directed to conduct elective congresses in the state not to collect any list of officers to fill the position.
“It was a shocker to them because it was too late for them to pay and collect the forms. Some officers of the party loyal to him started phoning him to send thugs to ensure that the meeting and the congress did not hold; they sent thugs within an hour, they beat up people and committed lots of atrocities. They came with guns, sticks, canes and bottles of beer and freely used them on people. Two members of the committee got injured among others. Many were hospitalised and we had to scamper to safety,” he added.
“We later went to the police headquarters same Saturday to address newsmen. Governor Ajimobi later came to the complex, which belongs to him but used as party secretariat. He is the landlord of the party secretariat and has access to the place every time,” he further said.
He persuaded the committee to assure and bring us to the place, claiming that it was peaceful to hold a meeting to resolve when the congress would hold. We all agreed that for those that have paid should be given the forms that same Saturday while the congresses should take place the next day, Sunday.
We waited for the implementation of the agreement but we heard on Saturday night that those in the Ajimobi camp had gone ahead to print forms. We were convinced that since they did not show evidence of payment for the forms before the close of banking transaction on Friday, their forms would not be of any use to them.
He stated that “by the time our people started arriving the secretariat to submit their forms as agreed, Ajimobi with all his supporters stopped our people from entering the party secretariat. In fact, the Commissioner of Police with an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) blocked people from gaining entry into the place.
“When they awere through with all that they did, we understood that the committee members were allegedly whisked away in a bus to Lagos to fly to their destinations in the guise to avoid the thugs I was bringing to the place. We that held the actual congress have not had the opportunity to see the committee to accept the results.
“We don’t know what must have happened between the committee and Governor Ajimobi but there is the probability that they must have been given certain results which are fake.
“This is a clarion call to the party’s national leadership to redeem the image of the APC which is on the verge of gaining disrepute because of the activities of greedy and self-centred individuals like Governor Ajimobi. He believes in impunity because he has been used to it. He does not have respect for rules and regulations.”
The Unity Group has also been at loggerheads with government over the local government election held on Saturday May 12th (yesterday).
The group may have been aggrieved following the consensus adopted in picking the candidates for the election.
Akinremi Feyisipo, Ibadan.
