Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the governor of Ondo State, has denied any involvement in the crisis that shook Tuesday’s All Progressives Congress (APC), Ondo State chapter stakeholders’ meeting.
According to Naija News, several thugs posing as members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) broke into the secretariat in Akure, the state capital, beating and injuring Ade Adetimehin, the party’s chairman, and other party leaders.
The party’s injured chieftains, who are still in the hospital, charged that the governor had paid the thugs to interrupt the stakeholders’ meeting.
In a statement, the governor, however, attributed the mayhem to criminals who, in his words, had no place at the state secretariat.
Leading party leaders from throughout the state to a parallel stakeholders’ meeting with congress committee members from the party’s national secretariat, Aiyedatiwa revealed that the original plan for Tuesday’s meeting at 10 a.m. was never finalized because he had asked that it be rescheduled for 2 p.m. so that he and other high-ranking officials, such as the Speaker and Deputy Governor, could attend.
Aiyedatiwa, who emphasized his dedication to due process and denied any hostility toward the congresses, blamed the violence on factional disagreements over candidacies, reminding everyone that the prior incident was a meeting of opposing supporters rather than a formal party gathering.
“As the governor, I am always present at stakeholder meetings, along with the speaker and the deputy governor,” he stated. Every stakeholder meeting is attended by all of us.
We had one in January prior to the state’s anniversary in the first quarter of this year. There were 60 people in each local government. However, due to ward and local government congresses, this one was an unplanned stakeholders’ gathering.
Later, one of them called to inform me that there were some miscreants or issues near the party secretariat.
Since I was going to be at the meeting, I requested him to call the Commissioner of Police, and I did the same to make sure the location was secure. I requested that security personnel be sent in to guard the area.
