Tag: Akeredolu

ONDO State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) has petitioned the police on the alleged confession of some delegates to the party’s primary election.
The petition, signed by his counsel, Mr. Charles Titiloye and addressed to Police Commissioner Mrs. Hilda Harrison, urged the police to investigate the activities of policemen and other security agencies in the conduct of the primary.
He urged the police to investigate the source of a video clip being circulated, where two persons confessed to have impersonated other delegates and voted in favour of Akeredolu during the exercise.
Akeredolu, who maintained that the election was transparent and credible with many security agents in attendance, said the allegation of briberylevelled against him by the two delegates in the video was not true.
He said the video was an attempt to blackmail him and discredit the primary.
The candidate stressed that the election, which was conducted under the supervision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was adjudged transparent by the observers that monitored it.
According to him, he has discovered that the two persons, who claimed to have impersonated delegates in the video, were being sponsored by his opponent to discredit the poll.
The petition reads: “On a careful look at the two persons in the said video, who identified themselves as Adebiyi Adeyemi and Oluwatimilehin Olusola Bamidele from Ward 05, Akure, we discovered that Adebiyi Adeyemi’s real name is Adenodi Mafimisebi from Ilaje Local Government Area of the state. Mafimisebi actually represented himself and impersonated Adebiyi Adeyemi to cause a breach of public peace and discredit the primary election.
“Mafimisebi in the said video clip also alleged that a police woman was involved in the criminal plot. She was said to have given Mafimisebi and some 16 other fake delegates the tags they used to impersonate themselves as APC delegates to vote for our client.”

THE Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo West Local Government of Ondo State, Mr. Adeala Ademulegun, has denied being a party to the petition challenging the victory of Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) in last Saturday’s governorship primary.

The APC leader, in a statement yesterday, said he was in support of the process leading to the election of Akeredolu in the primary.

A group of APC leaders, including Ademulegun, allegedly on Monday rejected Akeredolu as the party’s candidate, and petitioned the committee set up by the party’s national secretariat.

However, the party chieftain denied his involvement in the petition, saying he was in support of Akeredolu’s election.

According to him, he was part of the process that produced Akeredolu, and could not reject him after his victory.

Ademulegun promised to support Akeredolu to transform Ondo State through responsive government, urging APC  members to support him.

But yesterday, Ademulegun’s colleague in Ondo East, Akintunde Temitope, insisted they both signed the petition sent to the primary election committee chairman.

He said: “When we could not immediately locate Ademulegun, when the petition was to be submitted, it was only my name that was typed.

“He, however, used his hand to write his name and signed the petition when he arrived at the venue.

Akintunde said over 51 per cent votes of his executives were lost to the alleged fraud, stressing that his struggle was not against Akeredolu, but for justice and the need for APC to win the November 26 poll.

A group, Ondo Collectives for Change has berated one of the governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming governorship election in the state, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu(SAN) for claiming that the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu did not support him during the 2012 governorship election in the state.

 The group which is also the campaign organization of an APC governorship aspirant in Ondo State, Mr Segun Abraham, expressed resentment at the comment credited to Akeredolu, the then candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN) in the highly pulsating governorship election, said his statement has further confirmed that Akeredolu can’t be entrusted with the party’s ticket.

Akeredolu allegedly made the comments while appearing as guest on a programme tagged: ‘Guest of the week’ on an Akure based station, Positive 102.5 FM on Thursday.

He was quoted to have said: “We can say it here, so it is not new today that Bola Ahmed Tinubu says he want to support Abraham, he argued for him in 2012, but God chose me in 2012. So if he is now supporting him today, that is a repetition and God will still choose me this time.”

A statement issued by the spokesman of the group, Kola Ademujimi said: “The whole world could attest to the fact that that(2012) election was a battle between Governor Mimiko and Asiwaju Tinubu. There was no statement credited to Mimiko and his campaign team where Akeredolu was condemned, because they knew him as a political featherweight and neophyte.

He said: “All their arsenals were directed at Tinubu and the only campaign slogan reverberating on the lips of Mimiko was that Akeredolu was about to be imposed on Ondo people by the former Lagos governor, so that they can loot the state and make Ondo an extension of Lagos political empire.

“Another imperative question to ask the Senior Advocate(Akeredolu) is that, what was his  political antecedent for the likes of political heavyweights like Senator Ajayi Boroffice, Segun Abraham and many others to have stepped down for him at the primary? This was made possible because of Tinubu’s persuasion and the entire world knew except an ingrate like Akeredolu.

Ademujimi added: “I know that this comment will go a long way in shaping the minds of the 3,000 APC delegates that will participate in the Wednesday primary about the personality of Akeredolu and his ilk, who threw jibes and tirades at their benefactors just because political scheming of the moment is not in their favour.

“I wonder if Akeredolu, who woefully lost in his unit in Owo during the election could have won up to ten wards instead of the three local governments he won, if those, who sacrificed their ambitions for him to emerge the ACN candidate had taken this perilous path he is treading. I want to advise Akeredolu to rely on names -calling to whip up sentiments to get the supports of the delegates, because this strategy will fail as delegates will reject him based on his unstable character as manifested in his behaviour and open confrontation with party leaders.”

Meanwhile, Akeredolu, who is a former president of the Nigeria Bar Association, has clarified his statement on alleged endorsement of candidates by some leaders of the party ahead of the party governorship primary scheduled for Saturday September 3.

In a statement issued by Akeredolu Campaign Platform,  the governorship aspirant stated: ” My attention has been drawn to some stories making the rounds especially on the social media linking me with some ridiculous comments and incendiary quotes on the purported endorsement of candidates in the governorship primary. Those who know my antecedents will attest to the fact that I am a  man of courage. For the avoidance of doubt, I didn’t insult any of our national leaders in APC, especially Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as quoted mischievously in the social media…. “

The statement reads further: ” Like I have said in my earlier statement, all our leaders have assured us a free and fair primary.  What is happening in Ondo state right now is that some leaders  are using the name of Asiwaju Tinubu to cause confusion; claiming that he had given them money to work for a particular aspirant.  Anybody doing such cannot be described as a leader.  Asiwaju Tinubu’s last communication on Ondo State Governorship primary was that there will be free and fair primary. “

Former President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State Rotimi Akeredolu yesterday said politicians were to be blamed for inconclusive polls.

He said they put impediments on the way of the Independent National a Electoral Commission (INEC) in the conduct of successful elections.

Speaking with reporters after obtaining his nomination and expression of interest form to contest the APC governorship primary, Akeredolu said: “When INEC makes efforts to put in place their preparations toward the elections, politicians will go ahead and put impediments on its part.”

The former NBA President said the chairman of the commission must build on what was left behind by the former Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, saying he was not nursing any fear about the elections in Ondo.

According to him, most of the people blaming INEC for inconclusive elections were also responsible for it, saying: “I can assure you of one thing, this inconclusive election has been a thing of concern to everybody, but the question must be asked, who is to be blamed?

“I think the blame is for all of us, and I want to believe that mainly the blame is for the politicians because when INEC make some efforts to put in place preparations toward elections, politicians will go ahead and put impediments on its part, it is an unfortunate development.

“I have said it before that the INEC chairman, I want to believe that he should be on the same page with what Jega did when he was there but what has happened is that when we go into election, we politicians prevent elections from being held in some areas.

“It is not INEC, when INEC workers are there, and you have riot and a lot of fight here and there, so what do you want INEC to do? INEC will say we will not take our personnel there because they stand a risk of being killed and there is nothing anybody can do about that.

Speaking on the anti-corruption fight of the Buhari administration and the complaint by the President that the Judiciary was frustrating the fight, Akeredolu said: “As president of the Nigeria Bar Association, I was one those who fought corruption and will continue to fight corruption anywhere it rears its head. I intervene in so many topical issues as president of the Bar. The issue of corruption in this country is serious.

“The President has talked about members of the Bar and the Judiciary. What the President is saying to us is that he needs the cooperation of the Judiciary.

“The problem with the Justice system is that it moves slowly, but surely. There is no way you can find a quick fix to Justice because everybody is entitled to a fair hearing. It is part of the process.

“I can assure you that lawyers and judges in this country are trying their best. We do have a number of judges that we feel are bad because of their actions, and NJC is taking care of them. Just have confidence in the judiciary, and I can assure you that this country has one of the best judiciary in Africa”.

He said the APC has brought change to this country, adding that corruption is fading out.