Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti
Former Minister of Works and Chairman of the Southwest Agenda for Tinubu 2023 presidential ambition (SWAGA), Senator Dayo Adeyeye, has called on the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, to nullify the outcome of the ward congress conducted in Ekiti State.
Adeyeye said he was aghast as a leader in APC to see party members turning abashly violent and killed one man in an intra-party congress, appealing to loyalists of Governor Kayode Fayemi to stop tainting Ekiti’s integrity and portraying them as violent people.
The APC leader also accused the congress committee, headed by Alhaji Yusuf Galambi of perverting the people’s will, by allegedly hobnobbing with loyalists of the governor, whom he said concocted the names without election across the 177 wards.
The former Minister said this in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, while expressing the views of the SWAGA members on the ward congress held in Ekiti State, on Saturday.
Adeyeye said: “The Ward Congress purportedly took place in Ekiti State. But the manner of its conduct was nothing near all democratic norms as it was warped, disorderly, perversed and can only pass for a charade.
“As witnessed yesterday, the presence of INEC officials was not felt at the congresses. In most of the centres, members of the Tokan-Tokan group took over the INEC job. The presence of the law enforcement agents was also very insignificant. We witnessed a situation, where people waited agitatedly from dusk to almost dawn, in a decoy deployed to frustrate voters.
“In places like Ijero, Ado Ekiti and Oye Local councils, extreme violence was visited on people, leading to one death in Ado Ekiti Ward 10. Several people were also wounded and properties destroyed. We have the video clips of some of these heinous incidents.
“We are hereby telling the CECPC, our party members nationwide and indeed, all Nigerians, that there was no congress in Ekiti State yesterday. What happened was a charade that cannot pass the test of democracy and it is totally unacceptable”.
Adeyeye said the congress in Ward 08 of Ado Ekiti, for instance, was allegedly conducted on Sunday, with results concocted owing to violence that dogged the exercise the previous day, saying this further buttressed how reckless the congress committee was.
“APC, to us, is one big family. In view of this, internal conflicts should not be allowed to fester if people are really desirous of our victory in coming polls. I think it is time we buried our arrogance and ego, for the party to thrive”.
On the statement credited to Galambi that the congress was peaceful, Adeyeye said: “How can someone say an election where somebody was killed and property destroyed was a peaceful election.
“We have stretched the hands of fellowship to the Governor and his loyalists, which they rebuffed. It is like the Tokan Tokan people are becoming dictatorial and never wanted peace in APC. I believe everybody should be on board by applying the spirit of give and take for us to win the 2022 governorship election.
“How can we win when we are not together, even when we were together, it was tough for us to win. The victory of APC in 2018 was very narrow. The strength of any politician is the masses. We are going to begin mobilisation now across the state to show the SWAGA strength.”
However, the party spokesman, Ade Ajayi, has denied the allegations by the leaders on the process of the congress, saying every member of the party was allowed to participate in congress.
“I can tell you that nobody was deprived from the congress and it is our hope that it will be an acceptable one by the stakeholders. It is blatant lie to say that people were deprived, people participated in the process.”
