The leadership of the All Progressive Congress, APC, in Ondo State is not blinking over threat by the state governor, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu to quit the party if he is not handed the gubernatorial ticket of the party for the 2020 election.
Former Chairman of the party, Ali Olanusi has described the outburst of the governor as mere statement of arrogance.
Olanusi said: “We read the outburst of the governor of Ondo State, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN in the Vanguard Newspaper of 26th January, 2020 edition wherein the governor boasted that he is larger and popular than APC in Ondo State. While we take the outburst of Mr. Akeredolu, SAN as a mere statement of arrogance, we wish to state that the greatest calamity that can befall the APC in Ondo State is to give the gubernatorial ticket of APC to the governor in the coming election.
“His flaunted popularity lies in the political delusion he just sentenced himself to. The governor is aware of this fact. That is the reason he is struggling to talk himself into relevance on the pages of newspapers.
“It is a public knowledge that the governor mismanaged the Congress of APC in the State, sponsored and campaigned for the candidates of Action Alliance in the February 23, 2019 elections.
“For a governor that engaged openly in anti-party activities and thereby made President Muhammadu Buhari and other candidates of APC to fail in Ondo State in February 2019 election; for a governor that his actions have divided the party and created crisis of confidence among members; for a governor that disrespects traditional rulers and prominent citizens of the State; for a governor that encourages capital flight thereby creating hunger and poverty, resulting to empty boast is certainly the straw he is hanging to survive.
“Akeredolu has suddenly realized the strength of the party and the futility of his attempts to render the party impotent. He neither accommodates the party leaders in the State nor respects the party leaders at the National level.
“The party will miss him not if he decides to. In reality, his exit will constitute a reprieve to the party in Ondo State should he find it necessary to go to another party.
“We advise him to weep not in the day. The day of reckoning is just around the corner as the party he struggled to kill is hale and hearty through the efforts of other credible leaders of the party who toil day and night to minimize the negative effects of his actions on the party.”
