The South West Agenda for 2023, (SWAGA) in Ekiti State, has taken a swipe at the Ado Ekiti Local Government Area chapter of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), over the recent suspension move to oust the caretaker chairman of Ado Ward 8, Mr. Clement Afolabi, over alleged affiliation with the pro-Ahmed Tinubu presidential group.
Chairman of Ekiti State Chapter of SWAGA, Sen. Anthony Adeniyi, reacting to the move, said; “it is a myopic manifestation of a few, blinded by greed, to the sorry consequences of a selfish action taken too far.”
Afolabi, was invited to face a disciplinary panel via a letter signed by the local government caretaker secretary of APC, Mr Temitope Oluwasola.
The letter was titled; ‘Your Political Anti-Party Activities and the need to Defend Yourself,’ dated April 27th, 2021 and was addressed to the ward chairman.
The letter stated further that: “Your anti-party activities have come to our notice and attention by your ward. These include blackmail against the party and the state government, failure to attend meetings of the party, division of ward EXCO members into factions, as well as your confessional statement as a coordinator/chairman of an unauthorised group in Ado local government.”
Sequel to the allegation, a suspension process was said to have been commenced, based on the phantom accusation
Reacting, Sen. Adeniyi who described the action as “grossly frustrating”, cautioned on moves by some elements within the Ekiti APC, to fracture the party and expose it to unwarranted implosion for selfish interests.
“We are appalled that even as some party faithful are making sacrifices to overlook the errors of the past and work assiduously for the virility of APC towards coming electoral contests, a section of us is bent on plundering the hard-earned political fortunes and decimate the party for selfish ambition.
“Afolabi, a staunch member of our party, was accused of fraternizing with SWAGA, a political pressure group, agitating for the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as touch-bearer for the APC in the 2023 presidential election; and we ask: Is Asiwaju not a member of APC again?
“If Asiwaju Tinubu is still recognized as the Leader of APC in the country, then how does any romance with him by a member of APC become anti-party activity?
“It is on these notes that we warn those hiding behind the mask to instigate this evil move to stop it or face the harsh consequences of an action too grave to condone by the leadership of our party in Ekiti State.
We are not unaware that this is one of the clandestine moves to politically overrun and possibly humiliate one of our leaders in the state and incumbent Special Adviser to the President on Politics, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, who hails from the ward in question. We have also gathered that there are further moves being devised to muzzle other free-thinking party members, not in the good book of the seating government, Sen Adeniyi stressed.
Afolabi had said that; “All the allegations against me in the letter are not true. I am a committed party man since inception and I will not do anything that will affect the chances of the APC in Ekiti State and the country at large. I will respond appropriately to the party through my lawyer”.
Sen. Adeniyi, however warned of the damage actions like this could cause the electoral success of the APC in future elections, if allowed to fester and therefore demanded a stop into the probe of Afolabi to allow peace to reign.
“We should at this point be mindful of the terrible consequences of our actions. Those who are hell bent on sailing through with their selfish agenda at all times in a democracy should be told the rule of the game. We all fought for the success of this party at the last election and shall not close our eyes and allow petty ambition rescue defeat too soon from the mouth of our budding victory,’ he said.
