Tinubu urges peace in Ondo APC, may support Akeredolu for second term

Ahead of 2020 governorship election in Ondo State and the 2023 presidential race, former Lagos State Governor and National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has urged aggrieved party members in the state to bury their hatchets.

He was said to have appealed to members of the party, especially leaders who fell out with the incumbent governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu in the 2016 governorship primary, to support him for a second term bid next year.

Tinubu, who paid a surprise visit to the state yesterday to reconcile aggrieved party members in the company of former Interim National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande; former governors of Ogun and Ekiti states, Segun Osoba and Niyi Adebayo, arrived at Akure Airport at exactly 1:48 p.m. and was received by Akeredolu.

According to an insider, who pleaded anonymity, Tinubu charged those present at the meeting to “behave themselves,” pleading with all aggrieved leaders to sheathe their sword and support Akeredolu for another term come 2020.

However, there was a mild political drama at the venue of the meeting as loyalists of the former Lagos governor, who hitherto had fallen out with Akeredolu as a result of the controversial primary, expressed reservations about the modalities adopted for admission of members into the closed-door meeting.

Prominent among those who were stopped from attending meeting were former Osun State Commissioner for Regional Integration, Bola Ilori; former member of the House of Representatives, Afe Olowookere, as well as the immediate past commissioner for physical planning and urban development, Solagbade Amodeni.

But while speaking with journalists, Tinubu said: “The meeting is to promote the interest of the party.”

We discussed how we would win the next election resoundingly.”

He said that the differences and age-long grievances among the leaders, especially against Akeredolu, had been amicably resolved.

“You can see all our leaders coming out together laughing and happy.

“APC in Ondo is one now. We have asked all our leaders to go back and bring peace and unity to Indonesia state. We applied conflict resolution mechanism to smoothen the edges,” he added.

Kekemeke, who is the immediate past APC chairman in the state, stressed that the meeting did not endorse anybody, saying: “We have not reached consensus over Akeredolu’s second term bid.