Akeredolu blames Tinubu and Oshiomhole for his political travails saying they are just bitter

GOVERNOR Rotimi Akeredolu has blamed All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Adams Oshiomhole for his current political woes saying they are behind the recent decision to suspend him from the party.

Earlier this month, Governor Akeredolu received a formal query from the APC national leadership over his role in the last general elections that saw the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) win in his domain. In February's presidential elections, the PDP presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar defeated President Buhari of the APC by 275,901 votes to 241,769.

In the National Assembly elections, too, the PDP came out tops, winning two of the three senatorial seats in the state, while ion the House of Representatives elections, the APC only won four of the nine seats. Governor Akeredolu has been accused of working against his own APC in the state by supporting some candidates of rival parties.

Last week, the APC's national working committee (NWC) reportedly suspended the governor after receiving a report from a committee set up to investigate what happened during the elections. However, the governor has since denied being suspended or issued with any query by the APC leadership.

Earlier today, Otito Atikase, the governor's senior special assistant on political affairs, accused national chairman of Adams Oshiomhole and Asiwaju Tinubu of being behind the travails of his principal in the party. He accused them of using Governor Akeredolu as an opportunity cost for an alleged secret expansionist agenda they are pursuing.

Mr Atikase said: “Akeredolu is a principled man who does not play politics with anything goes. He will not allow anything that is not right to be done, so Tinubu and Oshiomhole should not rule the party for their expansionist and narrow agenda.

“All I can see is the aftermath of the defeat Tinubu suffered when he sponsored the Alliance for Democracy against Akeredolu in 2016. Oshiomhole, on the other hand, wanted his candidate to be picked after him in Edo but Akeredolu supported the man on seat Obaseki.

"Adams was very angry so he became chairman of the party to witch-hunt our governor. All I know is that Ondo people will determine who governs them and the God who brought Akeredolu to governance is not dead but reigns supreme over them.”