By Ayodele Oni
Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, firmly denied allegations linking him to thugs that invaded the party’s state secretariat on Tuesday, saying the stakeholders meeting holding at that time was illegal.
The governor clarified that the only legitimate stakeholders’ meeting recognised by him and key party leaders was the one held at 2 p.m., stressing that no authorised meeting was taking place at the time of the earlier disturbance.
Suspected thugs had stormed the secretariat, early on Tuesday, assaulted party leaders, and disrupted what was described as a stakeholders’ meeting, with the State Chairman, Ade Adetimehin, attacked and dispossessed of personal belongings.
Speaking after another stakeholders’ meeting, which he presided over, Aiyedatiwa said he was informed around 11 a.m. by the State Chairman, Ade Adetimehin, about plans for a stakeholders’ meeting earlier scheduled for 10 a.m.
According to him, he directed that the meeting be shifted to 2 p.m. because he was attending the 50th birthday celebration of a cabinet member and party stakeholder.
“As governor, I always attend stakeholders’ meetings alongside speaker and the deputy governor. So I asked that it be moved to 2 p.m.,” he explained.
He stated that while preparing to attend the rescheduled meeting, he received reports of some “miscreants” loitering around the secretariat and allegedly attempting to create tension.
“I immediately asked that the Commissioner of Police be contacted. I personally called the CP to ensure the place was secured because I was on my way there,” the governor said.
He added that security operatives were promptly deployed and that by the time he, the Speaker, and other leaders arrived, the secretariat had been secured.
“We had a peaceful stakeholders’ meeting thereafter. The miscreants had been chased away by the police,” he maintained.
Responding to claims that a stakeholders’ meeting had already commenced when the invasion occurred, Aiyedatiwa insisted that no formal meeting was in session at that time.
“That was not a stakeholders’ meeting. The authentic stakeholders’ meeting was the one shifted to 2 p.m.,” he said.
He explained that messages for the earlier 10 a.m. schedule had been sent before he requested the adjustment, and that people were merely arriving at the secretariat when supporters of different aspirants allegedly began causing disturbance.
According to him, the fracas stemmed from tensions among supporters of aspirants contesting various positions ahead of the ward and local government congresses.
The governor further disclosed that he had earlier met with the Commissioner of Police and the Director of the Department of State Services (DSS) to brief them on the planned congresses.
“I told them that the main congress is tomorrow. They had already mobilised security across the state. The CP was personally present. Security was not taken lightly,” he said.
He emphasised that the police confirmed receiving calls from both him and the party chairman before deploying personnel to the secretariat.
The crisis is believed to be rooted in disagreements over the conduct of the ward congress — whether to proceed with an open contest as directed by the national leadership of the APC or adopt a consensus arrangement.
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