Impeachment: We are open to peace talks – Ondo APC
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State has welcomed the move by the national leadership of the party to broker peace between Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and his deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
The development may force the state House of Assembly to at least suspend its ongoing move to impeach Mr Aiyedatiwa.
Mr Aiyedatiwa faces impeachment for alleged gross misconduct but the exercise is believed to be connected to a rift between him and the governor.
The rift opened when the governor fell ill and had to transfer power to Mr Aiyedatiwa for three months as acting governor while Mr Akeredolu flew to Germany to access medical care.
Associates of Mr Akeredolu accused Mr Aiyedatiwa of disloyalty to the governor when he held sway as acting governor.
After the state House of Assembly asked the chief judge of the state to set up a seven-person panel to investigate the allegations made against the deputy governor, as part of the impeachment process, the APC in Abuja on Friday set up a nine-member to mediate in the conflict between the governor and his deputy.
The National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje, inaugurated the committee headed by former Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari, with Abbas Garba as secretary.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the embers of impeachment are being fanned by elements within the APC in Ondo State, who want the deputy governor out before the party’s primaries for the 2024 governorship election in the state.
Some local leaders of the party have said the intervention of the national leadership was coming a little too late, given that the matter had gone far at the House of Assembly and in the courts.
Giving the terms of reference of the reconciliation team on Friday, Mr Ganduje directed the members to engage all “contending partner(s) to gather facts and circumstances surrounding the lingering impeachment process of the Ondo State Deputy Governor; to advise the Party on the most amicable ways of handling the lingering issues leading to the impeachment process of Ondo State Deputy Governor and finally, make necessary recommendations to the Party on resolution of issues and any other matter that may come up in the course of the assignment.”
In his remarks, the chairperson of the committee, Mr Masari, urged the national chairman to restrain the state chapter so as not to undermine the effort of the committee.
“And I want to appeal to the national chairman, if it is possible, to issue directives to APC in Ondo to stay any further action until we submit our report because if the committee is working and APC in Ondo is doing the same thing we may have an assignment that is dead on arrival,” Mr Massari said.
But the spokesperson of the party in the state, Alex Kalejaiye, told PREMIUM TIMES that despite the issues, the state chapter will cooperate with the committee to ensure a peaceful resolution.
“We are open to a peaceful resolution of the crisis, knowing that we are approaching election and we would want to keep the house in one piece,” Mr Kalejaiye said.
He said since it was an intra-party affair, a peaceful resolution was attainable.
The committee has until Friday this week to submit its report. (Premium Times)
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