Ahead of the Ondo’s gubernatorial election, the All Progressive Congress have distanced themselves from claims of having endorsed Governor Rotimi Akeredolu for second term.
The Party’s National Working Committee (NWC) has described the statement as spurious.
Just like his Edo counterpart, Mr Akeredolu is rumored to have weakened relationship with party leader Adams Oshiomhole, and party leader Bola Tinubu, was among the APC governors that had a meeting with members of the NWC at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Monday.
According to PREMIUM TIMES, the focus of the meeting was to make a case for Mr Akeredolu and the governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, ahead of the party’s governorship election in the states.
The NWC last week adopted a direct method of primaries, a decision some political analysts believed may not end in favour of the two governors seeking re-election tickets amidst the internal wrangle in the state chapters of the APC.
Both governors are believed to prefer indirect primaries that would involve voting by delegates which would include the governors’ appointees like commissioners and advisers. They have, however, said they will win the primaries no matter the method used.
In a statement Tuesday night, the NWC said a recent statement credited to an Ondo State political group called Unity Mandate Agenda alleging both the national chairman and NWC members of endorsing Mr Akeredolu as their recognised governorship aspirant in the July 20 primary in the state, is false.
“This is indeed a grievous falsehood intended to create disaffection among our members.
“We hereby refute this spurious statement and wish to state unequivocally that neither the National Chairman nor any member of the Party’s National Working Committee (NWC) has the power to endorse any aspirant.
“The APC is not in the business of endorsing aspirants. As a progressive party, our ultimate guiding principle is strict adherence to the tenets of participatory democracy.
“Our members in Ondo State and elsewhere should ignore this unfounded report. As we move close to governorship primaries in both Edo and Ondo States, it should be expected that mischief makers would do their worst to impugn on the process. As always, they would fail in this current campaign,” APC spokesperson, Lanre Issa-Onilu, said.
The APC primary in Ondo holds on July 20 while the governorship election holds on October 10.
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