Ondo 2016: Aregbesola, Ambode, Ajimobi apologise for boycotting APC rally, Governor claims

President Buhari presents APC's Rotimi Akeredolu to Ondo's voters
President Buhari presents APC's Rotimi Akeredolu to Ondo's voters

Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau on Monday said the South West All Progressives Congress governors who were absent at the Saturday APC Mega Gubernatorial rally in Akure, Ondo State, had sent in their apologies.

Mr. Lalong, who is the Chairman of Ondo APC Governorship Campaign Council, made this known to State House correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The Akure APC rally, which was witnessed by President Muhammadu Buhari, Senate President Bukola Saraki, and other prominent members of the party, was attended by only Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun from the South West.

APC governors from Imo, Kano, Kogi, Jigawa, Nasarawa and Edo states attended the rally.

The governors of Lagos, Oyo and Osun states, Akinwumi Ambode, Abiola Ajimobi and Rauf Aregbosola respectively, as well as former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, were also absent at the event.

Governor Lalong, who was accompanied by the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi, however, explained that all the prominent APC personalities who failed to attend the rally had offered useful and convincing explanations.

He said that the national leader of the party, Tinubu, was not at the rally due to ill-health.

He added that “we explained their absence. They sent in their apologies. You heard what happened there.

“As far as we are concerned, the President, who is the leader of the party, was at the rally. The national chairman was also there, as far as we are concerned, everybody was there.

“If a leader was not there and he said he was not there because of ill-health, we prayed that God will heal him.”

Mr. Lalong said he was in the Villa to thank the President for attending the Ondo rally.

He noted that “we have come to thank the President for going to Ondo for the grand finale rally.”

Mr. Tinubu had opposed the emergence of Rotimi Akeredolu as APC governorship candidate in Ondo.

He, therefore, demanded the resignation of the national chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun, whom he said had derailed from the path of progressives.

Mr. Odigie-Oyegun, however, dismissed the call, saying the party’s primary election was free and fair.

(NAN)

DOWNLOAD THE PREMIUM TIMES MOBILE APP

Now available on

  Premium Times Android mobile applicationPremium Times iOS mobile applicationPremium Times blackberry mobile applicationPremium Times windows mobile application

TEXT AD:DIABETES Is CURABLE! Don't Let It Threaten You! To NORMALIZE Your Blood Sugar In 21Days For Life, Click Here!!!.

All rights reserved. This material and any other material on this platform may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, written or distributed in full or in part, without written permission from PREMIUM TIMES.

  • Right Minded

    The Alliance for Democracy is our party in Yorubaland. Those sellouts that went to form alliance with the Hausa PDP and now fulani APC can now see that there’s no place like home. May the soul of Pa Abraham Adesanya continue to rest in peace. And May God continue to bless our founding fathers who are still alive. This was the same course Chief Bola Ige stood, fought and died for. You may have clothes more than your father but can never have more rags than him (Yoruba adage). Tinubu and his goons in APC have now found that the words of the founding fathers of AD are now coming to pass. God bless Ile Oodua!

    • Lanre

      Thank you.

    • Charles

      God blessing you, the Yoruba must return home, the APC they labored for, is now CPC.

    • Man_Enough

      Awolowo was in “Action group”

  • Ogbeni Leke Olowe

    But they all met just 2 days later in Ibadan for regional integration talk. Stop deceiving yourself ,these governors knows what they want and they know who owns their allegiance. Stop making excuses, are they all sick also like the reason u gave in Ashiwaju’s case?

  • Höly Wähala

    After strong reactions from discerning observers, the Govs. have simply abandoned Bola Tinubu in his folly of insulting the President of Nigeria by abstaining from a crucial election campaign rally… I flattened Tinubu for that childish outburst but more for dragging-in regional cronies in his bid to spite Chf. John Oyegun, Sen. Bukola Saraki and the APC Party in general. I insist, Bola Tinubu is a nobody, he must accept the Party’s candidate and learn to behave maturely in the future. He is not sick, he is only sick in the head with bloated ego. Nonsense!

    • Sb

      All the faceless wailers ‘holby wahalas’ and ipod jokers here abusing BAT make me laugh…

      Several facts remain sacrosanct:

      1. Neither you, your miserable destiny nor your illiterate parents can ever become half the man BAT was or is from treasurer of Mobil, to senator, to fighting off Abacha, to governor to party leader….

      2. BAT sent GEJ packing; deal with it elections were won and lost more than a year ago.

      3. You discuss, dream, sleep, wake, worry and envy Tinubu daily, yet he ignores your miserable existence.

      4. BAT is smarter than you!

      5. You all need to get a life, stop getting a ”hard-on” every time you hear the name Tinubu ……. lol

      • Höly Wähala

        Middle-Finger!

        • Sb

          Five finger spread out, pointing right back at ya’

          • Höly Wähala

            Still… Middle-Finger!

      • Charles

        Buhari used Tinubu to send GEJ packing, so that he can send Tinubu packing. Buhari is smarter than Tinubu

  • Ken

    The gobs are just trying to save their faces. That is the beginning of more deviant behaviours from them. Tinubu should know now his folly.

    • Charles

      they better do or DSS will visit them in the middle of the night.

  • Lanre

    Yoruba political leaders will never learn. Awolowo/Akintola; Abiola killed without remorse; Bola Ige/Olu Falae/AD/Ministerial Appointment; Tinubu and his imminent disgrace. Meanwhile we continue to recede on all known human development indices. Chief Awolowo has made a mistake but still we can remember his attitude of not calling a cow “Uncle” just to eat beef/meat. When are we going to learn?

    • Charles

      the Yoruba are great people, their problem is that they have been doing business with mediocre all the time, when they learn to do business with great people like themselves they will not be betrayed.

  • Golden Rule for “APC Leader”

    He cheats but does not want to be cheated.
    He rigs but does not want to be out-rigged.
    He imposes candidates but does not want candidates imposed on him.
    Who is he????????
    Whoever he is, he should not be so ‘sick’ to the extent of not understanding that there is an end to every human machination.

    • Charles

      Finally the end has come for Tinubu, eaten up by the lion he created out of personal greed.