Ondo: The purported suspension of APC Leaders, a joke taken too far

The purported sanction of APC leaders in Akoko like Hon. Ade Adeogun, Bar. Tolu Babaleye and others is nothing but April fool’s joke which is tantamount to month of April. In 2019, Aketi and his stooge, the Ondo state APC chairman, Mr Ade Adetimehin, having failed to impose their anointed aspirants on the party at the primaries, encouraged their disciples to contest against the candidates of their party through Action Alliance. 

Mr Ade Adetimehin was caught in a video clip that went viral, campaigning for the AA candidate of the Idanre /Ifedore federal constituency. This led to a catastrophic outing for the ruling party and President Muhamadu Buhari at the general elections. Now, after all the stakeholders worked for Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu’s victory in the last presidential election and Jagaban of Borgu won massively in the sunshine state, except in Idanre /Ifedore federal constituency of Mr Ade Adetimehin, this purported suspension is nothing but a charade from Aketi and Adetimehin, targeted at the upcoming governorship, just to prepare an unopposing ground for their anointed governorship aspirant and Mr Ade Adetimehin’s ambition as the deputy governorship candidate of the ruling party, I won’t be surprised by tomorrow if some leaders like Prof. Ajayi Boroffice, Chief Olusola Oke SAN, Sen. Tayo Alasoadura and H.E. Ali Olanusi are suspended for fathom charges by these individuals. If anyone should be suspended in Ondo state APC Mr. Ade Adetimehin deserves it for failing woefully in his unit, ward, local government, and federal constituency in the last presidential election of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu to PDP.*

The government of Mr. Akeredolu Oluwarotimi SAN, the executive governor of Ondo State, remains the worst in the history of the sunshine state. No doubt, Arakunrin’s profile of personal life is enviable, enjoyed the grace of God but in terms of good governance, human relationship, and management, Arakunrin is grossly deficient and this has become pronounced in this second term of his administration. I have received a lot of tongue lashes from his supporters and favour seekers, who accused me of nursing hatred for Aketi and his family in the state. It’s expected, that people will do everything to curry favour from the ruling class, especially, in Nigeria visa-vis Africa, where most politicians are jobless. However, these individuals failed to convince reasonable ones why Aketi failed to live up to his promises for the state and party members during the campaigns. I want to state categorically here that I don’t hate Aketi or anyone, I only criticize his bad governance in the state which is beyond redemption. I also want to use this avenue to challenge any of his supporters to mention any lie from my articles against the person of Mr governor or his administration.

That Aketi became the governor of the state in 2016, was purely divine, though, one of the journalists who once called me asked whether God wanted to use him to punish the state for our unforgiving wrongdoing against the almighty, putting in view the hardship brought to Ondo state by his administration, otherwise, there is no reasonable purpose for this i.e. humanly speaking but the creator of heaven and earth knows better. Ordinarily, people expected the governor to bring together the factions of the party after 2016, the reverse has been the case. From his swearing-in ceremony at Ondo State sports complex, Akure, the first blunder from Aketi was obvious, he ignored the presence of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu at that memorable event, the Jagaban of Borgu, who brought him to the state just 4 years before this period and paid all his campaign dues by cash and influence. He quickly allied with others to polarize the region (Southwest) against his benefactor .

Arakunrin’s real nature which had earlier been noticed by Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu that made Jagaban of Borgu to switch his loyal to Dr Segun Abraham in 2016, became pronounce to his erstwhile deputy, H.E. Agboola Ajayi, who believed to have seen a new leader after the demise of Dr Olusegun Agagu who mentored him (H.E Agboola Ajayi ) in politics. Also, Hon. Ifedayo Abegunde, Prince Solagbade Amodeni, Rt hon. Taofeek Abdulsalam, H.E. Ali Olanusi and others finally parted ways with Aketi, some of them retraced their steps to the former governor of Lagos state and mended fence with him. Due to his draconian nature, the Ondo state governor wanted to nominate all the elected candidates of the party in 2019 but met a superior political weapon from Comrade Adam Oshiomole, then APC national chairman, who suppressed Aketi’s shenanigans and ensured the party was fair to everyone. In his usual manner, Aketi retaliated, moved his ardent supporters to AA, and coupled with his poor performance as governor, PDP had a field day in the general elections, APC lost 2 senatorial seats of the three and five House of Representatives positions to opposition parties. 

Of the four House of Representatives members who won in the APC platform after the 2019 general elections, Hon. Bunmi Tunji Ojo (BTO), Hon Mayowa Akinfolarin, Hon. Ade Adeogun and Hon. Timehin Adelegbe, the latter was the only one from Aketi’s camp. It was clear that his opposing faction i.e. Unity Forum was gaining ground and their mission of preventing his second term was almost a reality, Arakunrin was forced to use people like Sen. Tayo Alasoadura and others to prevail on some of the rep members and brought them to Aketi’s camp with others in various political parties, holding meetings regularly in the federal capital territory, Abuja, to ensure his second term’s victory. Following the division of the Unity forum over the choice of consensus aspirant against Aketi in the primary, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, in his political sagacity, decided not to interfere in the matter despite pressure from politicians in the state. In a few words, Arakunrin had his way on second term’s ambition , the rest is now history and APC members suffered for not yielding to the warning of Asiwaju of Lagos state against Aketi in 2016.

Like a leopard that will never change its spots, Arakunrin returned to his old self of divide and rule after winning his re-election, forgetting, all the labour of others, those rep members who earlier believed they would enjoy the patronage of Mr governor because of their unflinching support for his re-election, met brick wall and were disappointed. Akoko Southwest/Southeast federal constituency was a real drama and show of shame, Aketi through Mr Ade Adetimehin, wanted to compensate the son of the former governor of Ondo state, Mr Gboyega Adefarati who was not popular with party members. Having noticed the looming defeat at the primary, the venue of the election was changed to the state capital, Dome in Akure, which was against the constitution of Nigeria. This singular act was an obvious sign to me that nothing good can come out of this present administration of Arakunrin. This primary election was nullified at the federal high court and the legal luminary turned governor was not bold enough to appeal the judgement through his appendages who are state APC executives, rather, conducted another election that was also nullified again by another federal high court. 

My hope became dim for the country with the current leadership of the nation. If ordinary APC primary election to federal house representative for Akoko southwest/ southeast federal constituency was conducted twice under the watch of Aketi who was twice president of Nigeria Bar Association and senior advocate of Nigeria, the same election was nullified twice for irregularities, Nigeria is doomed unless God intervenes. I recently laughed at a publication credited to the first lady of Ondo state, Mrs Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu, in which she criticized Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, the current INEC chairman, calling for his removal, it’s just like the Biblical story of a man who failed to remove the beam blocking his eyes but complained about specks on people’s eyes. In all fairness, Arabirin should rather call for her husband’s resignation or his impeachment by the Ondo State House of Assembly over the disgusting APC primaries in the state. In reality , the first family of Ondo state likes to play to the gallery.

The purported sanction of APC leaders in Akoko like Hon. Ade Adeogun, Bar. Tolu Babaleye and others is nothing but April fool’s joke which is tantamount to the month of April. In 2019, Aketi and his stooge, the Ondo state APC chairman, Mr Ade Adetimehin, having failed to impose their anointed aspirants on the party at the primaries, encouraged their disciples to contest against the candidates of the ruling party through Action Alliance. Mr Ade Adetimehin was caught in a video clip that went viral, campaigning for the AA candidate of the Idanre / Ifedore federal constituency. This led to a catastrophic outing for the ruling party and President Muhamadu Buhari at the general elections.

Now, after all the stakeholders worked for Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu’s victory in the last presidential election and Jagaban of Borgu won massively in the sunshine state, except in Idanre / Ifedore federal constituency of Mr Ade Adetimehin, this purported suspension is nothing but a charade from the duo of Aketi and Adetimehin, targeted at the upcoming governorship, just to prepare an unopposing ground for their anointed governorship aspirant and Mr Ade Adetimehin’s ambition as the deputy governorship candidate of the ruling party. I won’t be surprised by tomorrow if some leaders like Prof Ajayi Boroffice, Chief Olusola Oke SAN, Sen Tayo Alasoadura and H.E Ali Olanusi are suspended on fathom charges by these individuals. If anyone should be suspended in Ondo state APC, Mr Ade Adetimehin deserves it for failing woefully in his unit, ward, local government and federal constituency in the last presidential election of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu to PDP.

Peoplesmind