Former Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Jumoke Akindele, has raised concerns over what she described as blatant anti-party activities by some members of the All Progressives Congress in Ondo State, warning that unresolved grievances within the party could trigger wider political ruptures ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Akindele, who said she was speaking as a concerned member of the APC and not as a candidate for any elective office, alleged that some party members had begun courting and working for politicians from opposition parties seeking election into various offices.
She, however, expressed doubt that Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa was behind or in support of such activities, describing any such political calculation as potentially suicidal.
“Regardless of what I think of his politics, even he must be aware that to do so will be a suicidal move politically; a political harakiri for him to even contemplate it,” she said.
The former Speaker warned that the alleged anti-party activities could ultimately affect the APC’s chances of delivering overwhelming votes for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
While reiterating her support for the re-election of the President, Akindele said she had warned more than three months ago about the need for urgent reconciliation within the party, lamenting that the advice was dismissed by some party leaders.
According to her, unless appropriate reconciliation measures were urgently initiated by the national leadership of the party, the current political tensions in Ondo South could spread across the state before December.
“A party is a function of the people who are her members. If the machinery of the party is moved in a way that it is at dissonance with her people, who are flesh and blood, what you see right now in Ondo South is what you may see all across the state before December,” she said.
Akindele said although she condemned members working against the party, she understood the frustrations of those who felt aggrieved, insisting that party members who believed they had been unfairly treated had the right to express their displeasure.
“You cannot beat a child and also tell him when and how to cry. It will amount to injustice,” she added.
She also dismissed the reconciliation committee reportedly constituted by the state leadership of the APC, questioning the credibility and effectiveness of a process being managed by people whom she claimed were themselves beneficiaries of disputed political arrangements.
“It is a whole set of candidates from a whole line of leadership that were ‘robbed’, it is now them that are setting up a reconciliation committee? Who is offended? Who is seeking reconciliation? Who is supposed to appeal to whom?” she queried.
The former Speaker called on the national leadership of the APC, as well as the party’s candidates, to urgently establish genuine reconciliation mechanisms capable of addressing the grievances of aggrieved members across the state.
Despite her criticism of the situation, Akindele appealed to disaffected members of the party to sheathe their swords and resist the temptation to remain within the APC while working against its electoral interests.
She said members must consider the long-term consequences of their actions and protect their political futures and reputations.
“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,” she said.
Akindele urged aggrieved members to embrace reconciliation whenever approached by committees at the local, state or national levels, stressing that temporary political dissatisfaction should not be allowed to destroy future opportunities for their children.
Quoting a Yoruba proverb, she said, “Nkan ti a ba se l’oni, itan lo o ma da l’ola,” meaning that whatever is done today becomes history that can be told tomorrow.
The former Speaker maintained that her position was not motivated by allegiance to any individual or faction within the APC.
“I’m neither for Paul nor for Apollo. I am for APC. I stand on the mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for continuity. Whatever it takes,” she declared.
