As President Muhammadu Buhari arrived at the Akure Airport for the All Progressives Congress, APC, campaign rally in Ondo State, he was received by the Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko.
However, the erstwhile national leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu and three of the APC governors in the South-West were again absent at the campaign rally of the party held in Akure, the Ondo State capital on Saturday, November 19, 2016.
The governors are those of Lagos, Oyo and Osun States, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode, Senator Abiola Ajimobi and Mr. Rauf Aregbosola respectively.
Reason for their absence could not be immediately established.
President Muhammadu Buhari and governors of Imo, Plateau, Kano, Ogun, Jigawa, Edo, States were present at the rally
Speaking at the rally, the chairman APC Governors’ Forum, Mr. Rochas Okorocha, said all the governors of the party were behind the candidate of the of party, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu.
He said, ‘Ondo State must join the progressives states in Nigeria, therefore we must vote for him and he will win the election. Akeredolu rejected federal appointments because he loves you people. He wants to serve you, so vote for him.’
In the thick of the internal campaigns for the ticket for governorship of the APC in the upcoming guber poll, John Odigie-Oyegun, the national chairman of the APC, said in August that the party had not endorsed any aspirant to emerge as the candidate of the party for the November 26 governorship election in Ondo State.
This is coming after a national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, had been accused of planning to “anoint” one of the aspirants, Mr. Segun Abraham.
The chairman, however, said that anybody in the party has the right to endorse any aspirant of their choice, stressing that endorsement was different from imposition.
The position of the party chairman sparked off a faceoff between he and Bola Tinubu, the man credited as “singlehandedly making Odigie-Oyegun the party chairman“.
Tinubu’s preferred candidate, Segun Abraham lost in the primaries to Rotimi Akeredolu, the flagbearer of the APC.
Additional reports by AllNewsAndReports.com
