Governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has insisted that the state congress of the All Progressives Congress (APC) scheduled for Tuesday will be held despite an order of the Federal High Court halting the process.

Aiyedatiwa, who convened a stakeholders’ meeting at the party secretariat in Akure, the state capital, on Monday night, shortly after the ruling of the court, informed some party leaders present that the state chapter of the party is not at war.

The court presided over by Justice Toyin Bolaji Adegoke had issued an ex parte order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the APC from proceeding with the congress following an application filed by aggrieved members of the party.

The state chapter had been faced with a series of crises which in the past few weeks had turned violent, with three people killed during the ward congress and the chairman of the party in the state, Ade Adetimehin, beaten and injured along with some chieftains of the party during a stakeholders’ meeting.

While addressing party members at a meeting ahead of the exercise. Aiyedatiwa stated that the impression of tension within the party was largely fuelled by social media narratives, stressing that the reality on the ground shows a peaceful and united chapter.

According to the governor, disagreements and competing interests were normal in any human setting, including within families, but such differences should not be interpreted as conflict.

He said, “We are not at war. It’s normal in any human setting to have one aspiration or interest or the other, but at the end of the day, we all agree to disagree. Once the winner emerges from the chairman to all other offices, you find out that everybody will come together.

“But before we get to that point, there will be push and pull, which is normal, but it’s not to the extent of going to war with one another. We are not at war. Because we are in a social media age, that is why you see all of that.

If you have not been here to actually conduct these congresses yourself, and you are out there reading what is being posted on social media, you will say, ‘I don’t think I want to go to Ondo State.’ But now you have gone, and you have come back. Some of you have been here almost three times. It’s a testimony that Ondo State is peaceful; it’s a place to go to.”

Also, the South-West National Vice Chairman of the APC, Isaac Kekemeke, who spoke on the fallout of the court order to stop congress, said the party was not relying on the social media court order, noting that the national secretariat had yet to give any directive regarding the alleged order.

Kekemeke urged members of the National Working Committee panels to disregard social media reports suggesting crisis in the state chapter, maintaining that disagreements were natural in party politics due to personal aspirations but should not be elevated to conflict.

Earlier, Chairman of the APC State Congress Committee, Comrade Ogonna Obiekwe, said the committee was in the state to conduct the congress that would produce 36 working committee members to pilot the affairs of the party for the next four years.

Obiekwe said the process would be guided by the party’s constitution; the 2026 Electoral Act, as amended; the party’s guidelines; and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The committee’s secretary, Shittu Bamayi, outlined the modalities for the congress, stating that accreditation of delegates would commence at 8 a.m. at designated centres.