2018: Cold war brews in Ekiti APC, Chairman at war with Publicity Secretary

By Ekiti Leaks

Indications emerged yesterday that there is uneasy calm in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State as the State Chairman of the party, Chief Jide Awe and the Publicity Secretary, Chief Taiwo Olatubosun are said to be at loggerheads.

Jide Awe, who has gone underground to escape arrest and trial for alleged murder is said to be unhappy that Olatubosun has taken over his functions as the State chiarman, and that the party spokesperson was scheming to edge him out and take over his position.

Jide Awe is wanted by the police over his alleged involvement in the March 2013 murder of Ayo Murphy Jeje and Mrs Juliana Adewumi in Erijiyan Ekiti.

According to an inside source, the embattled Chairman, Jide Awe, is accusing Olatubosun of scheming to be the new chairman of the party.

Olatubosun is also being accused of using his position as the party spokesperson to enrich himself alone. Himself and two others were said to have made millions of naira as members of committees that conducted the APC primaries in some Northern States last year.

He is said to be banking on his closeness to the party’s Deputy National Chairman (South), Engr Segun Oni to take over the structure of the party, so as to pave way for the emergence of Hon. Femi Bamisile (Bafem) as the party’s governorship candidate in 2018.

The APC spokesperson is said to have been tipped as running mate to Bamisile, even as some believe that he (Olatubosun) was playing double game by seeking truce with Governor Ayodele Fayose and at the same time working for the emergence of Bamisile as the party governorship candidate.

"I am aware that Olatunbosun has collated the attendance of the meetings which the chairman couldn't attend for one reason or the other, and has started working on the lists as a weapon to fight his battle to edge out the chairman.

"Anyway, let me tell all those who care to know the truth in our dear party that, Olatubosun, Segun Oni, Bafem and others, can neither dislodge our chairman nor take up the structure of APC in Ekiti State," a source who is an ally of Jide Awe said.

Describing as self-aggrandizement, another loyalist of Jide Awe and former Governor Kayode Fayemi accused Olatubosun of attributing every publication on behalf of the party to himself; the situation which has naturally denoted that the party lacked leadership in the faces of the right thinking Ekiti people.

He said; "Honestly, I have endured the excesses of Olatubosun for long, and I thought the situation won't degenerate to this level of giving it publicity.

"Olatubosun is doing his job correctly and as expected of him. But the truth must be told, he should give the chairman and other leaders of the party the deserved respect and stop behaving as if he owns the party.”