The consensus candidate of the Unity Group of the All Progressive Congress in Ondo State and the first runner up in the party governorship primary, Chief Olusola Oke, has said that himself and the group are not planning to leave the party but with some conditions.
Speculation was rife that Oke was planning to defect to another party to contest for the October 10 governorship election after losing to governor Rotimi Akeredolu in the primary.
But after a meeting with leaders and members of the Unity Group in Akure, the group gave some conditions to Governor Akeredolu which should be met within the next seven days and all terms agreed upon.
Oke who insisted that he had no personal rift with Akeredolu, however, noted that they have a policy disagreement.
“The group will take further decisions in the next seven days by that time all decision should have been finalised.
Addressing newsmen, Oke said that “We have resolved that we remain members of the APC in Ondo State and our respective wards and that we are interested in a cohesive, united APC where I’d no disconnection, where all members will be treated as equal, where government patronages will no longer be sectional and right and privileges of members will be respected without hindrance
“We agreed that it is not in the interest of any member of the party for the party to slide into the hand of opposition and therefore unless unavoidable.
“We will do everything possible on our part subject to the condition and terms that will be given out to retain the party in power in Ondo State
“We also agreed that the incumbent governor representing team Akeredolu has made overtures to us for discussion for reconciliation and our team will be ready to participate in any reconciliation efforts, genuinely undertaken by the party leadership from the national secretariat to the zone and to the state.
“The view and decision of the party that any reconciliation that will be acceptable will be the one initiated as he has done and will be in line with the participation of the national leadership of the party.
“Our group insist that because of the experience in the past, where promises were made but not kept, where people were given assurances but were denied, it is therefore important that the reconciliation should be comprehensive and that the only reconciliation that will instil the confidence on our people.
“We acknowledge that our followership accounts for more than 50 per cent of the APC governorship in Ondo State and that we believe in APC and we are interested in the preservation of the party, governance of APC, subject to modification, adjustment, redirection and refocusing that will be contained in our charter of demands which will be sent to the governor and the leadership of the party.
Olusola Oke said: “We have directed the members of the caucus here to go back to their local government areas, hold local government meetings on Monday with a view to encourage our members to stay and await further directive
“We are aware of the overtures being made by PDP to some of our members in the local area and also aware of the overtures by some members of team Aketi and we resolved that no member should discuss, negotiate, or take any decision unless the one said to be undertaken at this level.
According to him “We remain resolute in our belief that unless it is unavoidable our members will not, for now, do anything to be injurious to the overall interest of our party in the state.
Olusola Oke added that “We are of the view that whatever decision or negotiation we are going to undertake should and must be done timeously and within the next seven days all reconciliation efforts, all terms and conditions would have been agreed upon and when these are done our group will come out in its full strength to sustain our party in this state.”
