By Dayo Johnson

ALL seems not to be well within the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ondo State.

The party has been wobbling and fumbling since the conduct of its governorship primaries in September 2016.

Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu

Regrettably, the state governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu appears indifferent as the party is being torn into shreds by some warring leaders.

The two gladiators at the center of the stage are Messrs Ade Adetimehin and Isaac Kekemeke, who are laying claim to the soul of the party.

It is believed that Akeredolu’s lackadaisical attitude to the happenings in the party was intentional to allow him to ride roughshod without any obstacle or being questioned by those capable of challenging his style of governance.

Many party leaders are said to be angry by his “lone ranger style of governance” and have decided to watch from afar.

There is no doubt that Akeredolu still has a score to settle with the embattled state chairman of the party, Mr. Isaac Kekemeke for pitching his tent with the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

It is instructive to note that Tinubu supported Olusegun Abraham’s candidacy against Akeredolu during the last governorship primaries.

Gang up against Kekemeke

Kekemeke was turned to the whipping boy immediately Akeredolu became the governor as he was completely shoved aside from the house he and others built.

For now, Akeredolu, in collaboration with others, control the party machinery in Ondo State.

The governor’s friends were reported to have ganged up against Kekemeke and sacked him despite having less than a year to complete his tenure as the party chairman in the state.

He is expected to exit as chairman in April 2018.

This singular act further polarised the party as some party leaders, who have axes to grind with Akeredolu joined forces with Kekemeke to battle the governor.

Many party leaders kicked against the decision of the few friends of the governor to rubbish Kekemeke despite his sit down look posture for months after being sidelined.

A three-man committee headed by the party’s publicity secretary, Mr. Abayomi Adesanya was set up by the party State Executive Committee and expectedly, they indicted the chairman and recommended his suspension over abuse of office and anti-party activities.

Kekemeke, who shunned the committee’s invitation, argued that the committee has no constitutional right to put him in the dock.

Also expectedly, the governor’s man Friday, Ade Adetimehin who was Kekemeke’s deputy was installed as the party’s acting chairman.

Another sin of Kekemeke was that he allegedly abandoned the governor during the 2016 election to work for his kinsman, Olusola Oke, who left the APC when Akeredolu emerged the party candidate.

Oke contested on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy, AD.

Although Akeredolu’s aides absolved him of any complicity in the suspension of Kekemeke, political observers punctured their claims arguing that the governor was  not magnanimous in victory because he failed to forgive those who worked against his emergence and also sees the likes of the party chairman as a political barrier that should be silenced anyhow.

Akeredolu’s olive branch

Vanguard was, however, informed that many of the party leaders in the state including Kekemeke, have turned down the governor’s olive branch extended to them and have preferred to flex muscles with him. Akeredolu was said to have visited Kekemeke before the election twice to settle with him but nothing positive was achieved thereafter.

Tinubu’s Akure visit

But an opportunity came weeks ago when Tinubu came on a private visit to the national leader of the Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti in Akure.

The visit came almost 10 months after Akeredolu’s inauguration as  governor.

The old wound was reopened when reports had it that all entreaties from Tinubu to Akeredolu to accommodate his perceived ‘enemies’ in the spirit of oneness and togetherness was allegedly rebuffed.

Unconfirmed sources said that the governor insisted that all those who engaged in anti-party activities would have to openly apologise and go back to their wards to be re-admitted to the party.

This was reaffirmed by the acting state chairman during the week.

Few days after the visit, Tinubu’s boys, including Kekemeke, Senator Ajayi Boroffice, Osun State Commissioner for Regional Integration, Mr. Bola llori and over 5000 party leaders across the 18 council areas of the state, came out smoking and announced their faction as the “authentic APC in Ondo State.”

At a meeting, they granted ‘unconditional amnesty’ to all governorship aspirants, National Assembly members and leaders across the state “who expressed their grievances by contesting the 2016 governorship election under other parties.”

They equally passed a vote of confidence on the sacked chairman, Mr. Isaac Kekemeke and declared him the authentic state chairman.

Senator Boroffice, at the meeting, said: “I can assure you that this meeting we started will go a long way in helping the party in its future endeavours. We also repose confidence in Hon. Kekemeke-led executive committee and we are not aware of any other chairman.”

In his remarks, Kekemeke said: “All members that left the party in annoyance or became less active in the party because of the fallout of the last gubernatorial election are hereby invited to return home to their party and are hereby granted unconditional amnesty with full rights and privileges as obtained before their brief departure.”

Adetimehin’s faction reacts

But in a swift reaction to the development, the acting state chairman, Ade Adetimehin described the meeting held by the leaders as illegal.

Adetimehin said: “It is important that we remind all those affected by the sudden change in fortune and status, burdened with delusion, with regard to the true state of their relevance in the politics of Ondo State generally, that their dubious claim to membership of a party against which they worked during the last gubernatorial election in the state, until they were driven to the depth of infamy is indecorous.

“Our party will not be stamped to accommodate fair-weather and unprincipled persons who see politics as a means to satisfying their parochial interest.”

The question agitating the minds of party members is when will peace return to the party?