Anti-party moves within Ondo APC will be political suicide in 2027 – Ex-Speaker warns

A former Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Jumoke Akindele, has warned that Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa must recognise that any perceived support for anti-party activities by members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state would amount to political suicide.

Akindele expressed concern over allegations that some members of the APC in the state have been courting and working for opposition candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections.

While describing the development as troubling for the party’s cohesion and electoral prospects, Akindele, who was the first female speaker in the state, stressed that, regardless of the governor’s political calculations, it would be dangerous to follow such a direction.

The former Speaker, who cautioned that anti-party plots are capable of undermining President Bola Tinubu’s bid for an overwhelming re-election victory, warned that the consequences will in no small measure affect the party in the state.

She, however, took a swipe at the party’s reconciliation committee in the state, stressing that it was composed of those that had allegedly been dispossessed, stating that “the offended could not be expected to seek reconciliation from those who had offended them.”

Akindele added that, “You see the reconciliation committee set up by the state party? It is nonsense. It is a whole set of candidates from a whole line of leadership that were robbed; they now just setting up a reconciliation committee? Who is offended? Who is seeking reconciliation? Who is supposed to appeal to whom?

“If the national party and/or the candidates themselves do not quickly set up their respective reconciliation committees, they will continue to experience these ruptures all around. In spite of my above position, I want to appeal to all the disaffected or disgruntled members of the APC to please sheathe their swords.

“In all we do, we must realise that we all have futures that must be protected. We have names which we hope will outlast us for good. To stay in a party and work against it is not only unconscionable; it is dishonourable.

“You cannot allow yourself to be likened to the insect which lives under a leaf and yet feeds on the leaf. Let an untainted conscience be your guide.”