I had no involvement in Ondo APC crisis, says Aiyedatiwa

Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the Ondo State governor, on Wednesday said he had no involvement in the crisis that erupted during the stakeholders meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC), held on Tuesday at the party’s Secretariat, which was disrupted by some political thugs.

Some political thugs on Tuesday invaded the Secretariat of the APC, and unleashed attacks on the State Party’s Chairman, Ade Adetimehin, and top leaders of the party in the state.

They injured Adetimehin, the top members, and officials of the party. Others injured included the member representing the state on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Otito Atikase, former lawmaker, Success Torhukerhojo, former Deputy Speaker, Abayomi Akinruntan, driver of the APC chairman, Friday Ogbaide, former chairman of Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo local government, Dayo Akinsuroju, and former Commissioner, Saka-Yusuf Ogunleye.

The chieftains of the party, however, condemned the attacks on them, accusing Governor Aiyedatiwa of sponsoring the attacks.

But Governor Aiyedatiwa, while speaking after the reconvened stakeholders’ meeting, denied involvement in the fracas.

According to him, APC is a family, and he could not have authorised the beating or injury of family members who were gathered for a meeting.

His words; “I got a call from the party chairman, who is Ade Adetimehin, that there is going to be a stakeholders’ meeting, which I also approved, but I told them it should be fixed for 2 p.m. because I was attending the 50th birthday of one of the stakeholders, who is a cabinet member of our party. I said the meeting should be fixed for about 2 p.m.

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“Normally, we have stakeholders’ meetings, and as the governor, I am always in attendance, alongside the Speaker and the Deputy Governor. All of us are always present at every stakeholders’ meeting. ‎In the first quarter of this year, we had one in January, before the state’s anniversary.

“We had 60 people per local government. But this one was an impromptu stakeholders’ meeting because of the congresses at the ward and local government levels.

“As I said, the meeting was shifted to 2 p.m. because it was initially fixed for 10 a.m., and I said I would not be able to make it at that time. Later on, I got a call from one of them saying there were some problems around, or some miscreants around the party secretariat. I asked him to call the Commissioner of Police, and I also called the Commissioner of Police myself to ensure the place was protected, as I was going to attend the meeting. I asked that security operatives be deployed to protect the place.

“Later, I got to know that some miscreants who had sympathy for one aspirant or the other, those who are contesting for one position or the other, were moving around and trying to create some kind of fracas among themselves, which led to some disturbance.

“The police assured that they would be able to protect everybody, and they were deployed. In fact, the secretariat was secured by the police before we arrived for the stakeholders’ meeting. We had a peaceful stakeholders’ meeting thereafter because the miscreants had been chased away by the police.”

Aiyedatiwa, who said there was no stakeholders’ meeting earlier on Tuesday as claimed by some party leaders, said the people were just about to arrive when those supporters, the miscreants supporting one interest or the other, were hanging around the secretariat and eventually disrupted the meeting.

The governor, however, said he has directed the Commissioner of Police and Director of the Department of State Security (DSS) to ensure the peaceful conduct of congresses being held in different parts of the state today to elect officials at the grassroots level.

Earlier at the meeting, the Ward Congress Committee led by Margaret Aruruenu (Chairman) and Smart Iheazor (Secretary), briefed the party leaders on the preparations for the exercise.

Both Aruruenu and Iheazor assured the party leaders that the various Congress Committees would perform their duties in line with the set guidelines and constitution of the party.

BusinessDay reports that members of the three other committees from the national secretariat, Screening Committee, Screening Appeals Committee, and Congress Appeals Committee, were also present at the meeting.