Akeredolu accused of instigating petition against Ondo North's Senator Boroffice

TROUBLE continues to brew in the Ondo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) after the lawmaker representing Ondo North Senatorial District Senator Ajayi Boroffice accused Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of being behind a more to get him removed.

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.

Over the last few days, the matter got worse when Senator Boroffice accused Governor Akeredolu, of masterminding the petition against his emergence as lawmaker-elect at the election tribunal. A petition had been filed before the tribunal by the Mega Party of Nigeria (MPN) against the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) over the absence of its logo on the ballot papers used for Ondo North senatorial election which Senator Boroffice won.

Although the petition was withdrawn last week, Senator Boroffice accused Governor Akeredolu of sponsoring the petition through his defeated anointed candidate in the election, Tunji Abayomi. According to the senator, the MPN did not sponsor any candidate for the Ondo North senatorial election conducted on February 23.

He added: “The MPN did not actually file a petition against Inec and Senator Boroffice. It was the senatorial candidate of Action Alliance for Ondo North, Tunji Abayomi, who sponsored the case on behalf of MPN without the authorisation of the party's national leadership.

“Instructively, Mr Abayomi could not have sponsored the case without the support of his political leader, Governor Akeredolu. From the above-stated facts, it is clear Governor Akeredolu did not play any such role like role of arbiter in the resolution of the MPN to discontinue a case that was initiated and instituted on its behalf without its authorisation.”

Senator Boroffice and Governor Akeredolu have long been political rivals as they have spent years fighting for the leadership of the APC in Ondo State. In 2016, they both sought the party's gubernatorial ticket but the Governor won the contest.