The relative calm of the Ondo State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has been disrupted with the splitting of the party into two over who heads the state chapter of the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) when the merger of the new mega-opposition party is concluded.
Trouble started last Saturday when a meeting convened by the Senator representing Ondo North in the National Assembly, Senator Ajayi Borofice, who has been making moves to assume leadership of the APC, was shunned by the party’s candidate in last year’s governorship elections, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, and his associates.
The selection of Akeredolu without a party primaries to be the flag-bearer of the party had not gone down well with Boroffice, who had won election to the Senate in April 2011 on the platform of Labour Party but defected to the ACN in the hopes of being the party’s candidate in the October 20, 2012 governorship election in Ondo State.
Since then, there has been no love lost between the two frontline politicians.
The meeting, which was attended by the senator’s close associates, including Prof Olu Aderounmu and Mr. Diran Iyantan, among others, was aimed at fashioning out modalities for the APC structure in the state.
Boroffice said that being the highest political office holder in the Ondo ACN, it was his responsibility to oversee the committee that will provide a framework for easy transition to APC by the merging parties.
He also added that his committee would inaugurate working committees of the APC at the grassroots level so that it could give it a strong footing in the state.
The state chairmen of Congress for Progressive Change, All Nigerian Peoples Party and the All Progressive Grand Alliance, who were also at the meeting said they had instructed their members to work with the Senator to commence mobilisation ahead of the 2015 elections.
The secretary of the committee, Mr. Bola Ajimuda, said four major committees were proposed, including that of finance and strategy, publicity, mobilisation and contact.
The state chapter of the ACN on Wednesday dissociated itself from the Boroffice merger committee of the APC.
The party in a statement by its publicity secretary in the state, Mr. Rotimi Agbede, said it took the decision after a meeting of its State Executive Committee.
It declared that the Boroffice-led merger panel was illegal because it was without the support of the national secretariat of the ACN and therefore directed its leaders and members to ignore the committee and exercise restraints in any matter pertaining to the merger plans pending a directive from its national secretariat.
Agbede further explained that the meeting had studied reports of the party’s legal team on the election petitions tribunal verdict and expressed total confidence in the team’s ability to challenge the judgment at the Court of Appeal.
Akeredolu could not attend the ACN executives meeting held in Ondo town but Agbede said he was represented by his running mate at the polls, Dr. Paul Akintelure, and one of his strong associates, Mr. Bola Ilori.
However, Boroffice, in an interview with our correspondent, dismissed the submissions of the ACN executive in the state and declared that they lacked the locus standi to issue such statement.
He said, “I was given the mandate to midwife the process of bringing all the parties involved in the merger process together, being the highest political office holder in the Ondo CAN, by the national leadership of the party at a recent meeting and there was a communiqué to that effect.
“There is no executive of ACN again in Ondo State because it had been dissolved. The APC held its convention in Lagos where the decision was taken. We had submitted our party’s licence and certificate.
“The problem with those still parading themselves as executives of the ACN in Ondo State is that they have the ambition of automatically becoming officers of the APC after the full merger and that is not constitutional.”
Boroffice therefore pledged to carry out his assignment of ensuring a merger of all the participating political parties in the state, not minding the position of the Ondo ACN executive.
Meanwhile our correspondent learnt that supporters of the ACN in the state had pitched their tent behind Boroffice and Akeredolu after the October 20, 2012 governorship poll which the party lost to the incumbent Governor Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party.
It was also learnt that the crack within the party was noticed when the Boroffice camp allegedly advised the party leadership in the state against challenging the result of the poll at the election petitions tribunal, an action which was rejected by the Akeredolu’s camp.
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