After last weekend Ward Congresses of the All Progressives Congress, APC nationwide, members of the APC in Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State have expressed displeasure over alleged manipulated list of ward executives picked through consensus by major stakeholders.
At the state Secretariat of the party in Akure, the aggrieved members led by the Executive Chairman of Ifedore local government, Engr Alex Oladimeji and other leaders of the party such as a former lawmaker, Hon Pius Adebusuyi, urged Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, the APC Acting State Chairman, Engr Ade Adetimehin and the national leadership of the party to drop manipulated 270 wards executives from the 10 wards of Ifedore council area and accept the list agreed on by all the leaders from the local government including the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Bamidele Oleyelogun who is also from the area.
According to Oladimeji, it is unacceptable for anybody to doctor list of the APC ward executives submitted by the stakeholders, noting that members and leaders of the APC in the Council Area had last week agreed to select their ward executives through a consensus arrangement which was ratified on Saturday, July 31st during the APC congress.
The Council Chairman said, “my people are protesting because of the list they submitted at the end of the just concluded ward congress was jettison and replaced fraudulently by some leaders.”
“When the consensus list got to the party secretariat, we got to know that they wants to change our decision and we totally against that.
“I want to appeal to our state chairman, Adetimehin to allow peace to reign in Ifedore. He should allow us to take decision by ourselves. We say no to any list collected without our consent.
“They should come to our aide, they should call us together and agree”, Oladimeji said.
It was gathered that Gboyega Isiaka, Chairman of the APC Ward Congress who monitored the election at the weekend had given kudos to the leaders of Ifedore council area for a well organized outing.
Speaking with journalists, a former Chief Whip of Ondo Assembly and former Ifedore Council Chairman, Hon Adebusuyi said the manipulated list would not be acceptable to Ifedore APC leaders, advising Adetimehin to correct the injustice.
“Democracy is about being democratic. The process is not consensus but highly dictatorial, it is not acceptable. The party chairman at the state level should right the wrong to give peace a chance,” Adebusuyi said.
Also, Hon. Dare Boboye, Acting Assistant Treasurer of the APC in the State, alleged that the list was manipulated to favour a minority group.
Addressing the protesters, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Bamidele Oleyelogun who is representing Ifedore, appealed to the aggrieved members and leaders to allow the party’s leader, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu through his Deputy, Hon Lucky Aiyedatiwa, to intervene.
Oleyelogun said some selected APC leaders from Ifedore had been invited to a meeting with Aiyedatiwa and Adetimehin to harmonise the wards exco list from the local government.
Reacting, Hon. Ade Adetimehin dismissed the allegation, noting that there was nothing like manipulation of the ward exco list in Ifedore.
“There’s no crisis in the APC. This is a rancour free congress. Everyone has been praising us for the Congress. We are the best in the whole of the country. We have been receiving commendations on the Congress. Ignore them,” Adetimehin said.