Protest rocked the Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State on Monday, as those sympathetic to the cause of former Governor, Kayode Fayemi besieged the party’s office to register their disapproval over the conduct of the members of the State Working Committee.
The protesters, who brandished placards of various inscriptions, also passed vote of no confidence on the State Chairman of the Party, Chief Jide Awe and party spokesman, Hon. Taiwo Olatunbosun , for allegedly supporting one of the aspirants in the race.
The protest was staged under the auspices of Concerned APC stakeholders, comprising mostly delegates and party leaders from the local government and ward levels .
They accused Awe of working in cahoots with Governor Ayodele Fayose to destabilize the party ahead of July 14 governorship election and that he had been offered N75 million to carry out the sinister job.
Relying on Article 21 (7) of the party’s constitution, they disbanded the SWC and set up a Caretaker Committee, headed by APC Chairman in Ise/Orun Council, Mr.Michael Eegunjobi. .
To confirm that the crisis elicited by the botched May 5 governorship primary has snowballed into a full scale war, the protesters laced the gate of the party located in Ajilosun area of the state capital with fetish material made from palm oil and egg.
The beleaguered party chairman, Awe narrowly escaped being killed by irate party members and was said to have been ferried out of the secretariat by mobile policemen.
As of the time of filing this report, police vans have been stationed at the Secretariat while the one-storeyed building was under lock and key.
Coordinator of the group, Barr Adeoye Aribasoye said: “We are concerned APC members in Ekiti. We had it on good authority that the peaceful election held on Saturday would have been successful, but for connivance between our party Chairman and Governor Fayose. The election could have been adjudged the best in Ekiti and Nigeria at large.
“We are hereby passing vote of no confidence in Awe and SWC members for taking sides. It was Awe and Olatunbosun that allowed those thugs to enter and disrupt the poll. The same Jide Awe now going around to say the election should be cancelled. He even met with Governor of Nasarawa State, Tanko Almakura and APC National Vice Chairman , Pius Akinyelure on Sunday to ask for consensus in favour of Segun Oni.
“It is against the tenets of democracy and APC statute for SWC to be showing open bias. As a result of this, we held a congress today where it was agreed that a caretaker committee to be led by Hon Kayode Eehunjobi as Chairman and Michael Akinleye as Secretary”.
When asked whether the congress has the power to remove a state SWC members , Aribasoye retorted: “A can convene the congress and it is the most powerful organ of the party., so our decision is binding on the party”, he maintained.
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