Ahead of the governorship election in Ondo State, a group under the auspices of Ondo State Organisation for Due Diligence, OSODD, has raised alarm over plans by some ‘cabal’ in connivance with some members of the Federal Executive Council to manipulate the April 20 APC primary election in favor a particular aspirant.
The group in a statement by its Chairman, Barrister Samuel Aderinola, and Secretary, Dr Adefemi Babatunde, and made available to newsmen in Akure, the state capital on Thursday called on President Bola to “clip the wings and de-beak these vicious merchants before they precipitate needless complications for the APC in Ondo State.”
Although the group did not mention any name, it alleged that “the head of the cabal, a sitting governor and their ally in Ondo state whomis also a cabinet member have been using the name of President Tinubu to deceive party leaders, aspirants and the innocent people of Ondo State, to support or step down for a candidate that is being propped up as a Man Friday.”
Read the full statement
As political merchants continue to selfishly dangle the personality of the Presidency as the determining factor in the forthcoming primary of the APC in Ondo State, they have similarly been trying hard to attain the complementarity of their vicious agenda, which they have mystified as the desire of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
We are under obligation to blow the lid off their poisonous cooking pot, as it is annihilating to the APC, democratic ideals and rights of the good people of Ondo State to freely choose their leader.
Without equivocation, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has meticulously earned for himself not just the democratic badge of an unrepentant progressive, but he has survived repressive tendencies from reactionary forces in his political evolutionary movements, which culminated in how he broke through the walls of inhibitions meant to frustrate his aspiration in 2023.
He did not just confront shrewd members of the cabal, but he declaratively authored the narrative of ‘Emi Lokan’ that submerged their castle of shenanigans.
The democratic credentials of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu were, once again, demonstrated in the conduct of the primary that produced the candidate that will fly the flag of the APC in the impending gubernatorial election in Edo State. It is a common knowledge that President Tinubu insisted that the right, due and legitimate winner of the primary election be declared, as against the machination that was cooked by a governor and other members of a hawkish Abuja cabal, as soon as the President Tinubu left for France.
On good authority, we are aware of how the head of the cabal in the presidency deceived the party Chairman, Abdulahi Ganduje, that President Tinubu sent a message that a particular aspirant be declared the winner of the primary, which which was criminally carried out.
Thankfully, the deceitful house of lie built by the head of this cabal and his cohorts collapsed irreparably by the insistence of President Tinubu that the rightful winner be declared in Edo prinary election. Thank you, democratically progressive President Tinubu!
Unfortunately, these leopards that would not tame their carnivorous nature, are at their dangerous game again in the build-up to the primary of the APC in Ondo State. Credible intelligence has shown that the head of the cabal, a sitting governor and their ally in Ondo state whomis also a cabinet member have been using the name of President Tinubu to deceive party leaders, aspirants and the innocent people of Ondo State, to support or step down for a candidate that is being propped up as a Man Friday.
However, due diligence by us has shown that at no time did President Tinubu authorise the endorsement of any candidate. It is reassuring that the President has continued to insist on The use of direct primary, in order to produce the most popular and acceptable aspirant as the candidate of the party, and the combustive agenda of these Desperados does not bear any semblance of the good democratic ideals of the President.
It is important to remind these hawks that Ondo State people are democratically sophisticated, and they will circumvent this satanic verse being rehearsed by these elements that will stop at nothing to diminish the enviable democratic records that President Tinubu painstakingly garnered, over some tempestuous political voyages.
As a democrat that President Tinubu obviously and enviously is, he should call these three unwise men (a governor from the east and two members of his cabinet)to order, and insist on a level-playing field that will allow Ondo State people in the APC freely choose their desired candidate, and eventually governor, as President Tinubu remains a father to all.
This is also as anybody that emerges the candidate of the APC, and governor of Ondo State, can always ensure the victory of the APC and President Tinubu in future elections.
At any rate, no one grudges these interlopers for pitching their tent with any aspirant, for the usual pecuniary considerations, what is objectionable in their conduct is falsely and pretentiously using the name of Mr. President to deceive innocent leaders, who may fall prey to their criminal antics.
As it is often said, a stitch in time saves nine. President Tinubu must clip the wings and de-beak these vicious merchants before they precipitate needless complications for the APC in Ondo State.
We await the prompt action of our dear Asiwaju, an unbeatable democrat, with superb and proven progressive ideals.
Long Live Ondo State and Nigeria!
Signed:
Barrister Samuel Aderinola
Chairman,
Dr Adefemi Babatunde
Secretary,
Ondo State Organisation for Due Diligence.