THE leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress has queried the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, for anti-party activities.

The party’s National Working Committee had on March 1 resolved to issue a query to the governor over what it described as glaring anti-party activities.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Lanre Isa-Onilu, after the meeting presided over by the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, the party said the governor’s anti-party activities “greatly affected the fortunes of its candidates in the recently conducted presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.”

Isa-Onilu, in an interview with one of our correspondents on Monday, confirmed that the query had been sent to Akeredolu based on the directive of the NWC.

“Yes, it has been done. The query has been sent to him according to the NWC’s resolution,” he said.

The party’s spokesman, however, said he was not aware if the governor had responded to the query.

He said he was not aware of the latest on the query because his department was not in charge of the matter.

He said, “It is not to my knowledge whether he has replied the query. You know that it is not my department that handles that particular assignment. I am not the one to receive his reply if he has done so. But I know that a query has been dispatched to him.”

But Akeredolu said he had not received any query from the APC NWC.

The governor, who spoke through the Ondo State Commissioner for Information, Mr Yemi Olowolabi, said the query had not got to the governor.

Olowolabi, who denied the involvement of the governor in anti-party activities, explained that Akeredolu was a loyal party member who always worked towards the progress of the party.

He said, “I don’t think the governor has got any query and even if he was issued a query from the national headquarters of the party, query is not a death sentence, a query comes up out of lack of information and desire to be educated and informed appropriately.

“A query is a quest from those who issued a query to be properly briefed, so if the national headquarters of the APC had issued a query to the governor, I am very sure it is borne out of misinformation.

“The governor is a loyal party man, though we have yet to get the query, if we do we will regard it as a quest by the national body of the party to be properly informed. It is not impossible for the headquarters to be misinformed or get deliberate distortion of facts, is this happens, it can be  seeking clarification.

“When we eventually get the query, we will adequately educate and inform the national headquarters of the party appropriately and I can assure you that at the end of the day, what we will get will be a pat on the back for the quality information and truth at our disposal.”

Meanwhile, The PUNCH has learnt that there is no reprieve in sight yet for the Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, and his Imo State counterpart, Rochas Okorocha, who were suspended on the same day the party resolved to query Akeredolu.

The party suspended Amosun, Okorocha, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Uguru, and the Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu, for alleged anti-party activities.

It accused the suspended members of campaigning openly for other political parties and candidates that were unknown to the APC, therefore constituting themselves as opposition to the APC candidates in their respective states.

When contacted on Friday on the status of the case the party had against the suspended members, Isa-Onilu said nothing had changed.

He said the same way the party made the suspension public, it would announce any development that might come up on the matter.

“We announced that the governors are on suspension. When they are no longer on suspension, we will equally announce.

“You can also find out things from their end too. It is a two-party thing: the APC and the governors,” he simply said. – Punch

– Apr. 2, 2019 @ 9:05 GMT |