Prompted by a mission to resolve the internal crisis within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun state ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Appeal Committee appointed to hear complaints and petitions arising from the recently conducted ward congress in the state has moved to reconcile two main factions within the party, with a view to retaining APC at Oke-Mosan Governor’s Office in 2023 and beyond.
BusinessDay reports that party members loyal to immediate past Governor Ibikunle Amosun and those of the incumbent Governor, Dapo Abiodun held separate congresses across the 236 political wards in the state, prompting complaints and petitions from the duo of Tolu Odebiyi and Lekan Mustapha, Senators, representing Ogun West and East respectively, as well as 20 elected party chairmen on the platform of APC in 2018, being submitted at the National Secretariat of APC.
Speaking in Abeokuta on Thursday while addressing a press conference, Segun Ojo, the chairman of the five-man appeal committee, said that the committee was constituted by the national body of the party to resolve all issues surrounding the conduct of the ward congress election.
“We are in the state to meet with members of our party that are aggrieved as a result of the conduct of the party’s ward congress. We are given the mandate by the national body of APC to resolve all outstanding issues as members of the same family.
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“We will listen to all issues raised as regard the Congress. The party in the state is not factionalised. Nobody has established any crisis within the party”, Ojo said.
Meanwhile, the Committee Chairman on Thursday, informed that they had listened carefully to all the petitioners and those in defence.
He told newsmen that petitions were received from Senators Tolu Odebiyi and Lekan Mustapha, both representing Ogun West and East in the National Assembly; elected party chairmen in 2018 and some members of the Congress Committee.
“We attended to all the petitioners till late night on Wednesday, and we will be here to listen to any other. All the petitioners have the interest of the party at heart. They want the party to be strong and united.
“There’s no acrimony in the party in the State. APC is in government in the state and we will not allow anyone to disrupt the peace of the state or disorganise the party”, he added.
