The warring political camps of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun and his predecessor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, conducted parallel ward congresses of the All Progressives Congress (APC) across the state on Saturday.
The exercise held against the warning of the Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the party to deal with those who hold parallel congresses.
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The Secretary of the Caretaker Committee, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, in a two-page notice in Abuja, warned that such individual or group risk being sanctioned.
In flagrant disregard to the warning, the two political leaders who had been at loggerheads over the party structure, conducted parallel congresses.
A party member sustained injuries when loyalists from both camps clashed at ward 11 in Abeokuta South Local Government Area.
Our correspondent who monitored the exercise in Abeokuta, the state capital, reports that party leaders from both camps stormed their wards with prepared list of executives and adopted it after the head count of the party members in attendance.
Daily Trust observed that both Abiodun and Amosun camps equally used separate venues, in some areas, for the ward congress to avoid a clash between the political groups of the ruling party.
At ward 14 Abeokuta South Local Government area, our correspondent witnessed a congress held by Amosun’s loyalists at St Louis Secondary School, Onikoko, while Abiodun men held theirs at Anglican High School, Ibara.
Our correspondent observed that the two camps came to the ward congress venues with a prepared list containing names of the executives, and merely adopted after an head counts of APC members on ground.
For ward 14 of Abeokuta South LG, Amosun men elected 27 – man executives with Odesanya Clement as the chairman, while Abiodun’s loyalists equally announced 27 executive members with Lasisi Taofeek as the ward chairman.
In Ipokia Ward 1, Daily Trust gathered that the two groups had earlier converged on Ipokia Local Government Primary School, Alaga for the congress.
It was gathered that the Abiodun group later left the school premises for their party secretariat at Aniwajoye house.
Findings by Daily Trust also revealed that the two groups held parallel congresses at Yewa North, Imeko Afon, Ado Odo Ota and other parts of Ogun West Senatorial district.
In Ogun East, our correspondent gathered that Abiodun and Amosun groups held separate congresses in Wards 7, 9 and 10 in Ijebu North Local Government Area.
However, there was a mild drama when the governor’s men allegedly chased away a former House of Representatives, Mikky Kazzim, from a ward in Abeokuta North LG.
Kazim, who is one of Amosun’s aides, in a viral video, was humiliated when he allegedly went for the congress at a “wrong ward.”
“Mikky, you are not a member of this ward. This is not your ward. Do you want to create violence here?,” a loud voice retorted while other party stalwarts shouted, before the former lawmaker made a U-turn.
In Iperu Ward 3 in Ikenne Local Government, Abiodun took part in the congress, describing the exercise as peaceful.
The governor said the Congress in his ward was a consensus arrangement which was ratified through an electoral process, assuring party faithful that he would ensure that the ward is empowered to perform it’s duties.
Abiodun said, “What we are doing here today is in line with what the caretaker extraordinary committee on convention planning has prescribed that we do in other to put our house in order in APC.
“We appreciate that what we had thus far for a few months are caretaker committees at different organisational levels of the party from the ward to the local government to the state and the national.
“So, basically, what we are doing is the beginning of the house keeping exercise to ensure that we have people who are properly voted into office that will now become substantive office holders from the ward levels and up.”
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