Bola Tinubu, El Rufai APC factions Clash in Ondo

The Ondo State APC crisis is taking on the characteristics of a jungle war, where everything goes: wit, foul play, ballistic missiles, whatever, are accepted depending on who wields them.This was the picture publicly painted recently of the party when two groups loyal to different APC super gladiators, one representing the western block and another representing the Northern oligarchy fighting for the soul of Ondo State, met and inflicted heavy injuries on their rivals. These two blocks unarguably are representatives of the two strange bed-fellows in the APC namely, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), two of the major political that merged to form the child of circumstance called APC for the eventual ”˜confiscation’ of national power.Even with national power in their kitty, the incongruent groups that make up the APC still appear ill at ease with one another, a clear sign of a party in danger of implosion. In fact, there are rumours that many of its chieftains are warming up for either defection to other parties or formation of another party owing largely to the fierce infighting that has pitched gladiatorsm against one another in supremacy battle. Fight broke out when supporters of Abraham, who held a rally somewhere in the Akure metropolis to ask that the “stolen” mandate given to Akeredolu by the party’s National Working Committee, (NWC) be restored, were attacked at the party secretariat in Akure. Placards displayed by the protesters had such inscriptions as “With Abraham we stand” “Restore Abraham’s mandate” “Abraham is APC’s candidate” and “Abraham is the authentic winner of September 3 primary”.Dangerous materials, including guns were freely used as the supporters of Akeredolu and Abraham, engaged in a free for all fight. Journalists and party supporters fled in different directions as the miscreants hijacked the protest and attacked those at the party secretariat. About 20 policemen with Armoured Personnel Carriers were deployed to the party secretariat to restore peace. An unspecified number of party supporters and passers-by reportedly sustained injuries during the bloody skirmish. Spokesperson of the protesters Rotimi Agbede said: “We are protesting against the name submitted by the national leadership of our party. If as a party, we are preaching anti-corruption and a sane society, we cannot be seen to be doing otherwise. We don’t want some people to drag our party to self-destruction. We are of the belief that the national leadership will see reasonsm with what we ar saying.”According to Abraham, the attack on his supporters was sponsored by Akeredolu: “It was a peaceful rally asking for our mandate to be restored and not to be delayed. All of a sudden, the Aketi people came and attacked the people. Is this the kind of thugs we want to put in power? Is it thuggery they use for governance? Thuggery is a different form of governance.” An aide to Mr. Akeredolu, however, denied that he sponsored the attack, describing the candidate as a peaceful man who would not encourage violence in any form. Many even believe that the Abraham group may have sponsored the attack to give the impression that Akeredolu is not worth the trust of his party.Meanwhile, the state Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko has appealed to police authorities to provide unbiased and fair policing to the electorate. Governor Mimiko made the appeal while hosting the new Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 11, Mr Dan Bature, in his office, in Akure. “I want to appeal to you in the name of God to give adequate, fair and unbiased policing during the forthcoming governorship election in this state. If you do it, you will be happy about the outcome. We don’t want bloodshed in our state and the only way to guarantee this is for the people to vote: One man, one vote,” he said.