The All Progressives Congress, APC, has invited the warring factions in the ongoing crisis in the Ondo State chapter of the party to Abuja for a peaceful resolution.
This was made known by Oji Ngofa, the Deputy National Secretary of the APC, while briefing journalists on the outcome of the party’s National Working Committee, NWC, meeting at its Secretariat in Abuja.
Ngofa said that the decision to summon the conflicting parties was to rebuild confidence in the process.
It would be recalled that the state chairman, Isaac Kekemeke, was accused by some members in the state of compromising his position and conniving with a party leader, Ahmed Tinubu, to impose a candidate on them.
The development had led to a crisis in the state as some youths of the party locked up the Party’s State secretariat, saying that Kekemeke was no longer the party chairman.
But on Wednesday, another group of youths, loyal to Kekemeke, stormed the party secretariat and broke the padlocks, while a team of Police and Civil Defence personnel were dispatched to the Secretariat to maintain law and order.
“We have taken a decision to invite all the aspirants, the state chairman and the state secretary to a meeting here on Saturday at 12 noon,” Ngofa said.
“At that meeting, we will ensure that everybody is on the same page; what our party Constitution says on primaries, we’ll get the confidence of everybody.
”There’s no need for crisis in Ondo state. As a party, we are committed to transparent, credible primaries; we have a reputation for that and we will continue to do that,” he added.
The APC scribe called on the party supporters in the state to remain steadfast and retain confidence in it.
He said: “From what we have seen and read in the newspapers, they seem to think that the state is responsible for primaries, but it is not.
“We at the national level are responsible for the primary and we will go according to the constitution of our party.
“As far as we are concerned, we are not aware of any chairman that is sacked and all that.
“What we are aware of is just a misunderstanding of the processes and that is why we are inviting them here on Saturday to ensure that everybody is on the same page.
“We understand that when you’re going for primaries people want to know who the real delegates are; we’ll make all that clear and that will be according to our constitution.
Ngofa assured that nobody, not even the state chairman of the party has the power to alter the delegates’ list, as he was accused of.
“We have our delegates list and we’ll make that very clear and available to the aspirants,” he said.