The crisis rocking the Ekiti
state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) took a different dimension
on Monday as police sealed the party’s secretariat.
The protesters, who claimed to be
sympathetic to the aspiration of Kayode Fayemi, minister of mines and steel
development, had besieged the secretariat on the Ajilosun- Ikere road where
they announced the removal of the state executives led by Jide Awe.
The protesters also announced the
immediate formation of a pro-Fayemi caretaker committee.
Armed policemen, however, arrived
the secretariat shortly and drove everyone out before sealing off the party
secretariat.
The protesters said they were at
the secretariat to register their disapproval over the conduct of the members
of the state working committee.
The protesters, who brandished
placards with various inscriptions, also passed a vote of no confidence on Awe
and the party’s spokesman, Taiwo Olatunbosun, alleging that they were
supporting a particular aspirant.
Relying on Article 21 (7) of the
party’s constitution, the protesters disbanded the SWC and set up a caretaker
committee headed by Michael Egunjobi, APC chairman in Ise/Orun local government
area.
The protesters also laced the
gate of the party with fetish materials made from palm oil and egg.
Awe, who was said to have
narrowly escaped assault by the irate party members, was ferried to safety from
the secretariat by mobile policemen.
As of the time of filing this
report, police vans were still stationed at the secretariat which was under
lock and key.
Meanwhile, 27 aspirants have
rejected the position canvassed by the national working committee of the party
that the botched primary would continue from where it ended on Saturday.
Some of the aspirants led by
Segun Oni, a former governor, on Monday met at a location in Ado Ekiti and
rejected the position of the NWC that the committee which conducted the primary
should return and complete the exercise.
The aspirants, who were reacting
to a statement credited to Bolaji Abdullahi, national publicity secretary of
the party, said the ballot cast on Saturday in five local governments before
the violence erupted had been rendered invalid.
The spokesperson for the group,
Yaya-Kolade, said the fact that the votes were not counted, collated and
announced at the venue, had rendered the process invalid.
She declared that the 27
aspirants would not accept attempts to validate unverified results of the few
delegates that had cast their votes on Saturday neither would they accept the
Tanko Al-Makura-led committee again as umpire.
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