• Group alleges Aiyedatiwa alienating party stakeholders, elders
• Raises doubts over his capacity to deliver votes for Tinubu

The Presidency has expressed anger over the allegedly sponsored protests that greeted the release of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nomination forms to the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Assembly candidates in Ondo State.

It was learned that the Presidency is particularly displeased that the Ondo State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Seun Osamaye, and the APC State Women Leader, Iji-Ayeola, were allegedly seen in viral videos leading protests against President Bola Tinubu and the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).

Sources familiar with the development said security agencies had been directed to investigate the organisers and sponsors of the protests.

According to the sources, the Presidency felt betrayed by the actions of the group loyal to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, noting that it was particularly disturbing that such a protest took place in Ondo, an APC-controlled state, under a governor widely believed to have enjoyed the President’s support.

Ondo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Idowu Ajanaku, had earlier denied Osamaye’s involvement in the protest during an appearance on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme.

However, another source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “Did you notice that Ondo was the only state where such a protest took place? Interestingly, while his supporters were protesting in Akure, he was in Abuja appealing to Bisi Akande and Pius Akinyelure to facilitate a meeting with the President, but the party elders declined.”

However, a pro-Tinubu support group within the APC, the Asiwaju Mandate Group (AMG), has raised the alarm that Aiyedatiwa’s leadership style has alienated party’s stakeholders.

The group said that the governor might be incapable of delivering the state for President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general elections.

According to the group’s Director-General, Olumuyiwa Asagunla, the governor is allegedly sidelining founding members, elders and leaders who had invested decades of political capital in stabilising the state and delivering electoral victories for the APC.