May 21, (THEWILL)- The governing All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ondo State has two days to know if it is going into the November 16, 2024 governorship election as a united or a divided house. According to the time-table of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, 18 political parties participating in the poll have up to 6: pm on May 20, 2024 for the submission of the list of nominated candidates for the poll.
For the APC, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim has become a bone in the neck of the party. Ibrahim’s refusal to back down on his protest against the emergence of incumbent Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa as winner of the primary election or heed the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje’s plea to support the winner has split the party down the middle in the state.
Attempts to muscle him into line and make him drop his post-election suit at an Abuja High Court, challenging the April 20 governorship primary which produced Aiyedatiwa as the candidate for the November 16 governorship poll, has only generated more crisis.
He wants the court to cancel the primary election, bar Mr Aiyedatiwa from parading himself as the candidate of the APC for the governorship poll and exclude the party from participating in the said election unless it conducts a fresh primary election. But the party is diplomatically dancing round the problem. Perhaps because it knows that the battle is for Senator Ibrahim to win or lose.
With one day to the close of INEC’s window for political parties to submit the names of their candidates, he may not be able to consummate his alleged bid to use the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party to fulfil his governorship ambition.
Recall that 16 members of the APC exco in his Igbotako Ward 11 had accused him of meeting with leaders of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP and suspended him from the ward. A few hours later, some other 25 members of the same ward reversed the suspension.
The Chairman of APC in the ward, Mr Adetokunbo Omotola, said the suspension was null and void, adding that the ward exco had passed a vote of confidence in the Senator representing Ondo South at the Senate.
Omotola said that rather than the purported suspension, the party’s ward executives had passed a vote of confidence in Ibrahim.
He said that APC in the ward was also standing by the senator in his pursuit of justice in the last governorship primary.
“As the Chairman of APC in Igbotako ward II, Senator Ibrahim is still a bona fide member of our party and we stand firm by him to get justice on the last governorship primary.
“No fewer than 25 ward executives have passed a vote of confidence in Ibrahim. Therefore, any other letter being circulated as suspending Ibrahim is null and void,” Omotola said.
In the letter of suspension, signed by the Ward Secretary, Omotoye Olusola and 15 other members of the executive, the members said they deliberated extensively on various issues affecting the progress and development of our party, notably indiscipline and insubordination among some members and found Senator Jimoh Ibrahim’s actions and activities to be in violation of the party’s constitution, particularly his decision to sue the party as well as his anti-party activities.
For that, they resolved to take appropriate disciplinary action against the lawmaker by suspending him “from the All Progressives Congress (APC) with immediate effect for acts of insubordination and anti-party activities, In accordance with Article 21, Section A of APC Constitution.”
The ward executive recalled that the National Chairman of APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, met with all Ondo State governorship aspirants on 25 April in Abuja.
At the meeting, Mr Ganduje urged them to cooperate with the party’s candidate, Mr Aiyedatiwa.
“Despite this, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim Folorunso proceeded to sue the governor and APC, blatantly disregarding party instructions.
“Additionally, he has engaged in anti-party activities by urging his supporters in Igbotako and the state to join NNPP, claiming he will soon receive the governorship ticket from them.
“Senator Jimoh has openly declared his intent to disrupt APC before leaving the party, as evidenced by his actions in the Federal High Court in Abuja and his derogatory remarks about APC in various media outlets.
“For emphasis, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim Folorunso has been suspended from the All Progressives Congress(APC) with immediate effect, and he is hereby prohibited from participating in APC activities nationwide,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim’s aide, Mr Banji Okunomo, described the purported suspension as mere drama laced with politics.
According to him, the purported suspension of the senator is a fluke.
“We are not aware of the suspension letter signed by unknown ward executives, but only heard that a vote of confidence has been passed in Ibrahim,” Okunomo said.
He said that in the two documents circulating on social media, the suspension letter was signed by 16 ward executives, while the vote of confidence letter was signed by 25 ward executives. Meanwhile, the ward leadership is in disarray.
For rebuffing pleas from the national leadership of the party to drop his governorship ambition and support the incumbent to ensure victory at the poll on November 16, party stakeholders are said to have muted the idea of severe sanctions for aspirants who openly rejected the results and failed to heed the plea by the national leadership for a united house towards the November poll.
On the other hand, defection may strip him of his status as Senator on the platform of APC. The question is will Senator Ibrahim defy the Appeal Court and Supreme Court pronouncements on defection when the party was not in crisis at the local and national levels and leave the APC?
Sources say that the day President Tinubu intervenes, Senator Ibrahim will back down. Losing Ondo to PDP, which already governs Oyo and Osun, will not only reduce the influence of the party in the South-West but also serve as a referendum of the President’s administration.
Amos Esele is the Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
