There are indications that Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu has been disqualified from the APC governorship primary election scheduled for July 20, 2020.
According to a report from Sahara Reporters this evening, the alleged disqualification is yet to be made public and there are interventions to save the Governor by stakeholders in the party.
Stakeholders led by the Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, is believed leading moves to overturn the disqualification by the All Progressives Congress screening committee.
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Reports had earlier emerged on Saturday that Segun Abraham was the aspirant disqualified by the screening committee but his media office quickly debunked the claim.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had scheduled to hold the state governorship election on October 10, 2020.
The APC aspirants for the Ondo APC screening exercise include Joseph Olusola Iji, Odimayo Okunjimi, Olayide Owolabi Adelami, Isaacs Duerimini Kekemeke, Olusola Oke Alex, lfeoluwa Olusola Oyedele and Olajumoke Olubusola Anifowoshe.
Others are Awodeyi Akinsehinwa Akinola Colinus, Olubukola Adetula, Dr Abraham Olusegun, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and Dr Nathaniel Adojutelegan.
Quoting a source at the party’s headquarters in Abuja, the screening committee discovered that Akeredolu had been involved in anti-party activities and this led to the low votes recorded by President Muhammadu Buhari in Ondo during the 2019 election.
“The main problem we are battling with in Ondo now is that we have discovered that people have turned against the governor and we are scared of fielding him as our candidate for the October election,” the source said.
The source explained that the committee also had some weghty petitions against the governor, forcing them to put the result of the screening on hold.
According to him, the 11 other aspirants screened had written to the committee to reject any indirect mode of primary election.
The source added that none of the aspirants was ready to step down and support the second term ambition of the governor after they were all interviewed in Abuja.
“What we heared was that five out of the 11 aspirants are for the governor and he gives them money to buy forms but we later found out that they were all lies because we interviewed all of them and they disclaimed it.
“But we know some of them would still step down and that is if we pick a candidate that would be accepted to them but not Akeredolu,” the source added.
Reacting to the issue, the governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Oyewamide Ojo, said that the news of his disqualification was a ploy to distract his supporters.
He said, “This is yet another distraction unleashed with the aim of deceiving the unsuspecting public and diverting attention from the self-imposed pains on the part of those behind the story.
“It is clearly, coming from those who have chosen the perfidous political path.
“Governor Akeredolu is not just participating at the party primary, he shall be re-elected by the grace of God come October 10, 2020.”
