Ogun APC gives conditions to accept Akinlade, other returnees

The Caretaker Committee of the All Progressive Congress (APC) yesterday gave the former gubernatorial candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Adekunle Akinlade and other returnees to the ruling party some conditions that must be fulfilled for their full acceptance and integration into the party.

Akinlade and party chieftains, who are loyalists of former Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, had on Monday announced their return to the APC which they left last year over the disputed gubernatorial primary.

A statement signed by the spokesperson of the caretaker committee, Tunde Oladunjoye, asked the returnees to follow due process of returning to the party “in accordance with the party’s constitution and established procedures.”

The party also asked them to return to their various wards for registration and realignment.

According to him, apart from going back to their various wards to re-enroll and reconcile with their people and leaders, it is also important for them to abide by the prevailing peace and decorum in Ogun APC and work under the Caretaker Executive formed by the National Working Committee.

The caretaker equally urged the returnees who have cases against the party in courts to withdraw “same without further delay.”

It, however, described their return as a welcome development.

Meanwhile, the APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has welcomed Akinlade and others who left the ruling party to the APM in Ogun State at the peak of the 2019 general elections.

Oshiomhole, in a release issued by his media aide, Simon Ebegbulem, assure them that they would be accorded all the privileges being enjoyed by all party members.

“Only last week, we received some leaders of the PDP, who equally left the APC in Edo State, back into our fold. As a party, we are glad that that the National Reconciliation Committee (NRC) set up recently by the party is yielding fruits. We welcome these party men and women and we urge them to join in this progressive governance which the APC promised Nigerians.

“The APC is one big family that believes in the ideals of true democracy, rule of law and party supremacy.

“We also want to use this opportunity to urge other members of our party who left and wish to return, to do so, as our party is big enough to accommodate all, even those with divergent opinions. This is what makes it a progressive party,” the release added.