As part of the fence-mending moves by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stem any crisis emanating from the conduct of its primaries, Governors of Borno State Kashim Shettima and his Kaduna State counterpart, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, will Monday visit Ekiti State to mediate in the crisis causing disaffection within the party.
The governors and members of the APC National Working Committee (NWC) Peace and Reconciliation Committee are mandated to look into the crises that arose from the conduct of the state and federal legislative primaries held in the state in October 2018.
The APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole had a couple of weeks ago set up zonal reconciliation committees to wade into the various crises across the states and to wave the olive branch to those that were aggrieved through the exercise.
The primaries for the state and legislative seats were conducted in Ekiti State by a five-man committee headed Dr. Ibrahim Sule.
The most affected was the Ekiti North senatorial district where some senatorial aspirants such as Dr Olusegun Osinkolu, Mr. Kayode Otitoju and Cyril Fasuyi expressed their anger over the emergence of Senator Olubunmi Adetumbi in the primary they alleged was not held.
Also in the same zone, former House of Representatives member, Hon Bimbo Daramola, Mr Bunmi Ogunleye and Mr. Femi Ajayi alleged that results were allegedly conducted to favour one Mr Peter Owolabi to emerge candidate in the Ekiti North Federal constituency 1.
Also in Ekiti North constituency 2, Mr. Kolawole Akinlayo accused some party stalwarts of deploying their influences and contacts to impose Mr. Ibrahim Olanrewaju as the candidate against popular will.
The APC state Chairman, Mr Paul Omotoso, confirmed to newsmen in Ado Ekiti on Sunday that the committee would visit Ekiti Monday.
He appealed to aggrieved aspirants to be peaceful and civil in their conduct to avert further crisis that could rip the party apart ahead of 2019.
Omotoso said the local chapter of the party had gone far in persuading some of the aggrieved aspirants, adding that the national committee would only consolidate on the gains already garnered through the SWC to ensure that the aggrieved are brought on the same page with the party.
The APC chieftain added that all security outfits in the state would be contacted to provide adequate security, saying the committee members have nothing to fear.
“We have been told based on the timetable of the committee that they will visit us tomorrow (Monday). We are not shying away from the fact that there were pending issues to be resolved, but we are not aware of the modality that will be adopted by the committee in resolving those issues.
“Before now, the SWC had constituted a committee to reach out to the aggrieved. We have pacified them, because we knew them and we valued their worth in our party. Every single member of APC is important to us and we have to bring them on board.
“But let me say that the SWC has gone far in its reconciliation efforts, the NWC committee led by prominent governors are only coming to build on what we have done.
“We have no doubt that all the pending issues will be resolved easily since we have only one party which is APC.
“We are only begging our aggrieved aspirants to abide by the outcome of the committee’s resolution. They are going to make demands but they too must be ready to concede, so that we can have a win-win situation.
“The committee members are experienced people and we don’t know the modality they will use in resolving the issue, but whatever they will do shall be in the interest of APC and members must be ready to comply,” Omotoso said.
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