TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari says those who left the All Progressives Congress (APC) after the Ondo state primary election should not have done so.

Some of the aspirants, who lost to Rotimi Akeredolu, candidate of the APC in Ondo, had alleged that the process through which he emerged was fraught with irregularities.

They petitioned the panel, which the party set up to look into the crisis, and the panel recommended an annulment of the exercise through which Akeredolu emerged, but the refusal of the national working committee (NWC) of the APC to accept the recommendation led to the exit of some aspirants.

One of them is Olusola Oke, now the candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD).

Oke polled a distant third behind Olusegun Abraham, the preferred candidate of Bola Tinubu, former governor of Lagos state.

Speaking in Akure, capital of Ondo state on Saturday, Buhari commended the aspirants who have chosen to remain in the party despite their loss.

He said the unity of the party was crucial to the forthcoming governorship election.

“I am very pleased that those of you who lost the primary are still very much in the party,” he said.

“That you lose elections doesn’t mean you should walk away, you keep on trying. I went to the Supreme Court three times in my bid to become the president of Nigeria.

“I like your high spirit and your commitment to the party and I hope your constituencies are taking note of that.”

Speaking on behalf of the other aspirants, Tunji Abayomi, said those who left the party were not party members.

He assured the president that they had resolved to deliver Ondo to APC.

“No single aspirant left the party after the primary. Those who left the party were not party members; they returned to where they belong,” he said.

Also speaking, Olorunnimbe Farukanmi, chairman of the APC elders council in Ondo, said Akeredolu has the qualification to lead the state.

“We have fielded an experienced, informed, hard-working and capable legal practitioner to work with President Buhari to carry out massive industrial development, job creation, eradication of poverty and massive economic improvement in the nation,” he said.

Buhari was in Ondo to campaign for Akeredolu ahead of the November 26 governorship election.