APC Reconciliation: Aggrieved Members Ask For Refund, Demand Tickets, Appointments

Oshiomhole, Shettima, and Yari

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC, led by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, had, on Wednesday, November 21, inaugurated the National Peace and Reconciliation Committee for each of the six geo-political zones in the country, majorly due to cases arising from primary elections.

The NWC had announced the formation of the committees, with each headed by a governor, to find a way out of the stalemate, so that they could go into the 2019 elections as one strong family.

“Do everything to ensure peace within the rank and file of the party,” Oshiomhole charged the committees during their inauguration.

Oshiomhole, who said the committees were free to consult them on new issues that might arise in the course of their assignments, added that the terms of reference given to them were amenable.

However, reliable sources told Daily Trust on Sunday that the committees might not be able to alter the decisions the party had already taken on the volatile states, particularly Ogun, Imo and Zamfara, despite the ongoing protests.

What the aggrieved members want

The demands of the aggrieved members of the party vary.

Amosun’s camp insist on Adekunle

In Ogun State, the grieving loyalists of Governor Ibikunle Amosun have insisted on the declaration of the governor’s anointed candidate, Adekunle Akinlade, as the party’s governorship flag-bearer as condition for peace to reign in the party.

They are equally demanding the ceding of 26 House of Assembly tickets to Amosun’s loyalists, who had been “denied” candidates form (CF001) by the national leadership of the APC.

The ruling party in the state was polarised following the submission of Dapo Abiodun’s name as the governorship candidate against the governor’s pick.

Amosun had won the senatorial ticket for Ogun Central, alongside his chief of staff, Tolu Odebiyi, who got the Ogun West ticket. Another ally of Amosun, Lekan Mustapha, also got Ogun East senatorial ticket. But this is yet to pacify the aggrieved party leaders and members.

A presidential reconciliatory team had met with Amosun’s group in Abeokuta, barely three days before the APC inaugurated its own peace committee.

The three-man team, led by Princess Sandra Oladele and state executives of the APC, was locked in a closed door meeting at party’s secretariat in Abeokuta.

All the 26 candidates vying for State House of Assembly from the governor’s camp, who had been denied tickets, were present at the meeting.

The state chairman, Derin Adebiyi, represented by the APC chairman, Ogun Central, Yomi Ademefun, presented the party’s demands for peace, including declaration of Amosun’s anointed candidate, Akinlade as the party’s governorship candidate.

Speaking at the end of the meeting, a member of the panel, Adewale Adenaike, promised to forward their demands to the party for the reconciliation of the aggrieved parties concerned, asking party members to work together in the interest of peace.

Adenaike said the crisis would be resolved before December 1, but sources said replacement of the name of the current governorship candidate might be difficult because of powerful forces behind him.

“We should not deceive ourselves; this fresh committee can’t alter the decisions taken in Ogun and other states. The forces behind Dapo Abiodun are bigger than those being fingered. It is not about Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole or even Chief Olusegun Osoba,” one of the sources said.

Visit to Zamfara will have no value

In Zamfara State, Governor Abdulaziz Yari said the visit of the APC reconciliation committee would be of no value if its main focus is to look into the controversy surrounding the state’s party primaries.

Governor Yari, who spoke through his special adviser on communication, media and public enlightenment, Alhaji Ibrahim Dosara, said the effort of the committee would not make any difference since they had already filed a suit in a court before the constitution of the peace and reconciliation team.

He said that until the court delivered its verdict on the case, any reconciliation on the state’s party primaries would be an exercise in futility.

“However, if the committee is coming to talk to all aggrieved members to unite and forge ahead so that the forthcoming election would be won, it would be a welcome idea,” he stated.

Source: Daily Trust Newspaper

Related Topics: #Oshiomhole #AbdulazizYari #Okorocha #APC

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