Ojudu protests hijack of APC ward congress forms

The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, has alleged that the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) loyal to Governor Kayode Fayemi in Ekiti State has hijacked the forms for elective positions ahead of next Saturday’s ward congress.

Ojudu, who spoke with newsmen in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital on Saturday,  said the development was aimed at depriving other members of the party who are not loyal to Fayemi’s ‘Tokan Tokan’ group access to the forms and contest for positions in the ward congress as against the mandate of the national caretaker committee of the party.

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The presidential aide disclosed that the forms were seized from the ward congress committee sent from the national secretariat to the state on Friday, alleging that they were financially induced to return to Abuja without performing their duty of making the forms available to interested party members.

According to him, members of the party in the state had paid money into the dedicated account of the party for the forms, urging the group to allow for democracy to take its course ahead of the congress in the interest of the party.

He explained that any attempt to endorse consensus arrangement for the congress would be resisted by leaders, adding that the system, if used, would spell doom for the party ahead of the 2022 governorship election.

However, in his reaction, the publicity secretary of the party, Mr Ade Ajayi denied all the allegations raised by the presidential aide, describing it as “frivolous and flimsy.”

Ajayi maintained that those raising the alarm about next Saturday’s congress were “strangers who have no idea of the workings within the party.” He assured members that everyone would be given a level-playing ground.

He said the congress committee set up by the state was working round and meeting stakeholders within the party towards ensuring a free, fair and transparent congress that would usher new leaders at the ward level.