In an escalation of the crisis currently rocking the APC in Ondo State, the National

Vice-Chairman of the APC (Southwest), Chief Pius Akinyelure has reacted to his

National Working Committee (NWC) colleague and South-south counterpart, Hilliad

Eta’s claim that the party’s NWC never voted on the submission of the party’s

governorship candidate to INEC prior to the 22 nd September INEC deadline. Eta had

accused Akinyelure of giving a wrong account of the events that transpired at the

NWC meetings of 19 th , 20 th and 22 nd September.

Speaking in Lagos yesterday, Akinyelure denied ever voting in support of the Election

Appeal Committee report being ‘thrown out’. He described Eta’s vituperations as a

red herring, largely intended to distract from the democratic aberration that

occurred at the party’s last NWC meeting of 22 nd September, where the will of the

minority was allowed to ride roughshod over that of the majority. Akinyelure

clarified that contrary to Eta’s claim, the decision taken at the NWC was that the

appeal committee’s recommendations be temporarily set aside in favour of a

political resolution to the impasse. Akinyelure stated that when it became evident

that this political resolution was not forthcoming, a majority of NWC members

agreed that the name of an interim candidate be submitted to INEC to meet the

impending deadline.

Chief Akinyelure reiterated that the party’s NWC never voted to reject the appeal

committee’s report, as that, in its self, would be ultra vires and beyond the authority

of the NWC. He averred that the decision taken at the party’s NWC meeting of the

19 th September was to merely temporarily set aside the appeal committee’s

recommendations, not ‘throw out’ the appeal committee’s report as Eta claimed.

According to Akinyelure, the appeal committee’s report contains very weighty

allegations bordering on criminal falsification and distortion of the Delegates’ List. He

added, ‘’any sensible person knows that the moment a register of voters is falsified,

the credibility of an election based on such a register becomes questionable,

regardless of any outer façade of transparency’’. According to Akinyelure, the NWC’s

remit, vis-à- vis the appeal committee report, was either to accept or reject the

recommendations of the appeal committee report. He described as ‘arbitrary and

unilateral’ Chief John Oyegun, the party National Chairman’s decision to forward the

name of Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) to INEC. He made it clear that since Hilliad Eta was

not the appointed spokesperson of the NWC, his comments should not be construed

by the media and general public as representative of the NWC as a body.

Akinyelure said ‘’If, as Eta accepts, the NWC is the recognised appellate body under

the party’s constitution, how then does it sit comfortably with him when that body’s

head makes unilateral decisions that don’t reflect the majority view? It simply defies

logic to be honest’’. He made it clear that since Hilliad Eta was not the appointed

spokesperson of the NWC, his comments should not be construed by the media and

general public as representative of the NWC as a body.

Chief Akinyelure threw down the gauntlet to Eta to make public the names of the

members at the last NWC meeting of 22 nd September who were against the

submission of an ‘interim’ candidate to INEC. He insisted that six (6) NWC members

expressed their support for the submission of an interim candidate to INEC at the

22 nd September meeting as against the five (5) who were opposed.