An attempt by the Senator representing
Ondo North in the National Assembly, Prof. Ajayi Boroffice, to assume
leadership of the new merger party, All Progressive Congress, has
caused a major division among members of the Action Congress of Nigeria
in Ondo State.
Trouble reportedly started penultimate
Saturday when officers of the state chapter of the ACN and close
associates of the party’s governorship candidate, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu,
shunned a meeting convened by Boroffice.
Boroffice won election to the senate in
April 2011 on the platform of Labour Party but defected to the ACN where
he aspired in vain to be the governorship candidate in the October 20,
2012 governorship election in Ondo State. The ACN chose Akeredolu.
The meeting, which was attended by the
senator’s close associates, including Prof Olu Aderounmu and Mr. Diran
Iyantan, among others, was aimed at fashioning out modalities for the
APC structure in the state.
Boroffice, being the highest political
office holder in the Ondo ACN, said he had been saddled with the
responsibilities of overseeing the committee that will provide a
framework for easy transition to APC, by the merging parties.
He also added that his committee would
inaugurate working committees of the APC at the grassroots level so that
it could give it a strong footing in the state.
The state chairmen of Congress for
Progressive Change, All Nigerian Peoples Party and the All Progressive
Grand Alliance, who were also at the meeting said they had instructed
their members to work with the Senator to commence mobilisation ahead of
the 2015 elections.
The secretary of the committee, Mr. Bola
Ajimuda, said four major committees were proposed, including that of
finance and strategy, publicity, mobilisation and contact.
The state chapter of the ACN on Wednesday dissociated itself from the Boroffice merger committee of the APC.
The party in a statement by its
publicity secretary in the state, Mr. Rotimi Agbede, said it took the
decision after a meeting of its State Executive Committee.
It declared that the Boroffice-led
merger panel was illegal because it was without the support of the
national secretariat of the ACN and therefore directed its leaders and
members to ignore the committee and exercise restraints in any matter
pertaining to the merger plans pending a directive from its national
secretariat.
Agbede further explained that the
meeting had studied reports of the party’s legal team on the election
petitions tribunal verdict and expressed total confidence in the team’s
ability to challenge the judgment at the Court of Appeal.
Akeredolu could not attend the ACN
executives meeting held in Ondo town but Agbede said he was represented
by his running mate at the polls, Dr. Paul Akintelure, and one of his
strong associates, Mr. Bola Ilori.
However, Boroffice, in an interview with
our correspondent, dismissed the submissions of the ACN executive in
the state and declared that they lacked the locus standi to issue such
statement.
He said, “I was given the mandate to
midwife the process of bringing all the parties involved in the merger
process together, being the highest political office holder in the Ondo
CAN, by the national leadership of the party at a recent meeting and
there was a communiqué to that effect.
“There is no executive of ACN again in
Ondo State because it had been dissolved. The APC held its convention in
Lagos where the decision was taken. We had submitted our party’s
licence and certificate.
“The problem with those still parading
themselves as executives of the ACN in Ondo State is that they have the
ambition of automatically becoming officers of the APC after the full
merger and that is not constitutional.”
Boroffice therefore pledged to carry out
his assignment of ensuring a merger of all the participating political
parties in the state, not minding the position of the Ondo ACN
executive.
Meanwhile our correspondent learnt that
supporters of the ACN in the state had pitched their tent behind
Boroffice and Akeredolu after the October 20, 2012 governorship poll
which the party lost to the incumbent Governor Olusegun Mimiko of the
Labour Party.
It was also learnt that the crack within
the party was noticed when the Boroffice camp allegedly advised the
party leadership in the state against challenging the result of the poll
at the election petitions tribunal, an action which was rejected by the
Akeredolu’s camp.
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