Ondo APC boils over choice of Akeredolu’s successor

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s opponents within the party under the name of Unity Forum, who have vowed to scuttle his second term bid come September, 2020, are now at disarray over the choice of Olusola Oke as its consensus candidate.

It would be recalled that the Unity Forum, a formidable group within the Ondo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday announced Olusola Oke, a former governorship candidate of the AD in 2017 before defecting to the APC, as its consensus candidate to face Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu at the APC primaries slated for July, 2020.

Unity Forum, headed by the former Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Alhaji Ali Olanusi is an umbrella body of aggrieved APC governorship aspirants and party stalwarts working against the re-election bid of Governor Akeredolu.

But no sooner Olanusi nominated Oke than other members of the Unity Forum shouted disagreement. Those that opposed the emergence of Oke were Secretary of the forum Dapo Adelegan, Prof. Sola Ehindero and Deputy Senate Leader Robert Ajayi Borofice.

Prof. Ehindero described the announcement of Oke as the consensus candidate as fake news.

Senator Borofice, the patron of the forum, rejected the emergence of Oke and urged aspirants to prepare for the primaries.

A statement by Borofice’s media aide, Kayode Fakuyi, said: “The media report suggesting that Unity Forum has adopted a consensus candidate to represent it in the Ondo APC governorship primary election is misleading. The fact is that Unity Forum has no consensus candidate. This is premised on two fundamental reasons.

“Firstly, the political tendencies in Unity Forum could not agree on critical processes that could have led to the adoption of a consensus candidate. For instance, while some members opted for zoning, some disagreed. Recently, aspirants participated in a zoning process and the majority agreed that Ondo North Senatorial District should produce the consensus candidate.

”Secondly, when the idea of consensus candidacy was mooted, the understanding was that all seven members of the Governorship Candidate Selection Committee must unanimously agree on a consensus candidate. The condition has not been met.

According to him, it is the opinion of the majority of leaders and members of Unity Forum in Ondo North Senatorial District and other parts of Ondo State that Unity Forum is yet to present a consensus candidate.