The leadership of the APC, according to impeccable sources, considered the purported support for an opposition party by a leader of the APC ahead of the Ondo governorship election as constituting anti-party infractions that should not be overlooked.
Tinubu’s godson, Dr. Olusegun Abraham, was edged out in the primary won by Rotimi Akeredolu, who is believed to have enjoyed the backing of the party’s national leadership in Abuja.
The delegates’ list for the Ondo APC primary was said to have been doctored to favour Akeredolu and this allegedly infuriated Tinubu.
The post-primary election crisis in Ondo APC took a different dimension when Olusola Oke defected to AD in a move believed to have been instructed by Tinubu.
Party sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Punch that they had proofs that Tinubu was backing Oke in AD. They added that the party leader had released funds for Oke’s campaign.
The Ondo State chapter of the APC confirmed that members of the party were under investigation over alleged anti-party activities.
The Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Abayomi Adesanya, said specifically that some members loyal to Tinubu had been found to be involved in activities against the party in the recent time.
Mr. Abayomi, who said expulsion from the party was the penalty for any anti-party activity, said the national body of the party would investigate and later come out with an action against any national leader involved in such activity.
He said, “We have yet to confirm if our National Leader is involved in anti-party activities but we will investigate; we are very sure that some of his boys here are involved in anti-party activities but when it is time, appropriate action would be meted to them.”
“Anti-party action is a serious offence in any political party and in our own party, total expulsion is the penalty.”
But a chieftain of the APC loyal to Tinubu, Mr. Bola Ilori, said APC members who supported Rotimi Akeredolu’s emergence as the party’s candidate were those involved in anti-party activities.
Ilori said that the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, was also involved in anti-party activities by allegedly using veto power to over-rule the recommendation of the Electoral Appeal Committee and submitted Akeredolu’s name to INEC.
He said, "Whoever is promoting or supporting Akeredolu to be the candidate of the APC is involving in anti-party (activities) because the NWC voted five to six not to submit the name of Akeredolu, and the National Chairman went ahead and submitted his (Akeredolu) name. So, what they have done is anti-party (action) itself.
“What they have done is anti-party (action) that has never happened in the history of the party.”
According to The Punch, the APC national leadership is aware of Tinubu’s alleged anti-party moves in Ondo State but is very reluctant to sanction him.
This, according to party sources, has to do with Tinubu’s influence in the party and his tight grip on the party structure in the South-West.
Meanwhile, Oke has said that he defected from the APC to the AD because he failed to get justice after he challenged the result of the primary of the party held on September 3. 2016 and the national leadership refused to act on the recommendation of the appeal committee.
