Some South West APC leaders are fighting our party – Akeredolu

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, has spoken up on the crack in the APC, stating that some unnamed leaders of the party in the Southwest are fighting the APC by spending billions in sponsoring the candidate of another party, who had lost out in the APC primary.

While insisting that the September 3 primary that produced him as the party’s flag bearer was free and fair, he told newsmen that those who cannot accept defeat encouraged three of the aspirants to file an appeal and indulge in anti-party activities after the appeal was thrown out.

Recall that Akeredolu was declared winner of the APC governorship primary in Ondo state, defeating Segun Abraham, widely believed to be the favoured candidate of a national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Shy of a month after the primary, one of those who contested with Akeredolu for the APC ticket, Chief Olusola Oke officially dumped APC for the Alliance for Democracy, AD, and has since become the flag bearer.

Reacting in the interview, the APC candidate stated that one of those who contested against him did the right thing by joining another party, adding that one or two others pretend to still be members of the APC but are involved in anti-party activities.

His words, “I am not sure that there were people that are really aggrieved. We went into a primary, someone emerged from the primary and some of them were suborned. They knew we had free and fair primaries but because people cannot accept defeat they suborned about three of us, encouraged them to file unmeritorious appeal, their appeal was thrown away and yet they do not want to stop at that. They still went ahead to encourage them to involve in anti-party activities.

“Yes, one of them did the right thing and went to another party. Fair enough! But there is still one or two others who pretend to still be in the party but they are working against their party’s interest.

“So, when you say they are aggrieved, how do you say they are aggrieved? You cannot talk to them any longer. Somebody who has left your party to another party and is being sponsored by leadership of the party in the South-west. It is unfortunate. What do you want to say to those people? You try to appeal to the leadership; you try to send people to them – you don’t do this to your party and they don’t want to hear.

“They are spending stupendous amount of money and giving money out. Not in hundreds of millions but in billions because you want to fight your party. So, do you still say those people are aggrieved? They have left. There is nothing we could do. Every other person that believes in the APC have returned to the party.

“Almost immediately we won we met with people. Those who believe in the party remained but those who do not have left. Some are still here pretending because they are holding offices in the name of the party and they know that if they go out and say they have decamped to another party they would lose their seat, so they are pretending. So, there is nothing we can do about it. We have tried our best.”

Source: Daily Post