National leader of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Ahmed Tinubu’s alleged endorsement of one of the governorship aspirants of the party in Ondo state has polarised the Party.
Tinubu had reportedly endorsed Olusegun Abraham as a governorship candidate after insisting he had a right to support a candidate.
But the statement did not go down well with some interest groups within the party. The aggrieved members of the party stormed the party secretariat in the state demanding that the state party Chairman, Isaac Kekemeke, should step down.
The group, which forcefully took over the state secretariat along Oyemekun Road, shutting the gates against the chairman, accused him of being part of the plan to “impose” a candidate on the people of the state.
They also announced Saka Ogunleye as their new chairman.
Tunji Abayomi, one of the governorship aspirants, had in a letter to Tinubu, asked him not to interfere in the internal affairs of the state but to allow the people make their choice.
Tibunu’s alleged reply that he had the right to support any aspirant of his choice reportedly brought about Tuesday’s protest, as the youth group of the Ondo APC vowed to resist any imposition of a candidate on the party.
A group, called the Owo/Ose Egalitarian Group, had earlier said that Tinubu’s action was against the principle of fairness by seeking to deny the people of Owo/Ese federal constituency the right to produce a governor for the state.
Coordinator of the group, Akin Famadenuyi, in a statement, warned the party’s leaders not to take away the rights of the people of his constituency to produce the next governor by zoning it to another.
However, the State APC Chairman, Kekemeke, waived off the allegations and the protests, saying it goes to show the vibrancy in the party.
He said: “You know our party is a progressive party and what happened today is part of the vibrancy in the party.
“I am not angry because people are free to express how they feel especially given the fact that APC has a high propensity to win the coming election.
“People have invested their time and energy in the pursuit of their ambitions, and they are bound to vent their frustrations if they think that those ambitions are dimming.”
Kekemeke said all the candidates had sought the support of party chieftains like Tinubu and wondered why they are crying foul just because someone else got the endorsement and they didn’t.
“To seek endorsement from anyone is normal in a democratic process, it is political illiteracy to be angry because someone got endorsed and you did not get the endorsement, which you also sought,” he said.
“The aspirants have been going around trying to get endorsements even from me and I don’t think there is anything wrong if anyone got endorsed.
“Whatever the case, I can assure you that everyone will still have to submit himself to the primaries and a candidate will emerge through a free and fair election,” he added.
The Party chairman expressed optimism that the crisis will not affect the Party’s primary elections, insisting that everything will be sorted out in no time.