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Scores of members
of the Ondo State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN),
yesterday, protested what they termed the ‘marginalisation’ of some
members by the chairman of the party, Sola Iji.

The
placards-carrying members almost disrupted the meeting of the state
executive council held in Akure, if not for the timely intervention of
security operatives.

The politicians,
who came in two 18-seater buses, invaded the party secretariat located
along the popular Oyemekun Road, Akure, and insisted that the meeting
would not hold as scheduled unless they were part of it.

The protesters, who
were led by the chairmen of Ondo east and west local government
chapters, Temitope Akintunde and Adebayo Ayodeji, vowed that they would
not allow the crisis that led to the death of the defunct Action
Congress (AC) in the state to swallow the newly established ACN.

“We, aggrieved
members of the party, wrote a letter to the chairman around 2008 and
said the executive of the party in Ondo west and east local governments
had been dissolved. Since then, he said they have not been attending
the state executive council meeting until the Mrs Jumoke Anifowose-led
reconciliatory committee directed that all suspensions, caretaker
committees, and factional offices should be dissolved.”

Sequel to the
directive, he said he came with the secretary of his party at the local
level to attend the state executive council meeting and was prevented
by suspected thugs posted to the party secretariat.

Mr Akintunde later
said his group would leave the venue of the meeting because some
leaders of the party had persuaded them to leave. The quick arrival of
the combined team of the men of State Security Service and regular
policemen also prevented the crisis from degenerating.

All attempts to reach the chairman for comments failed as all his mobile lines were switched off.

However, the
publicity secretary of the party, Rotimi Agbede, said the executive
council of the party would come out with a position on the grievances
of the members.

Aggrieved Labour supporters

In another
development, hundreds of aggrieved members of the Labour Party from
Ilaje area of the state yesterday protested the alleged hoarding of
forms for nomination of delegates towards the congress of the party,
scheduled to hold next month.

The protesters, who
barricaded the secretariat of the party in Akure, carried placards of
various inscriptions, such as ‘LP is not a personal party’; ‘Where are
nomination forms’; ‘Absence of Internal Democracy killed Parties’; to
register their displeasure.

They specifically
alleged that the state commissioner for environment, Omolebi Adepiti,
the newly elected house of assembly member, Kunle Odidi, and one Imisi
Ogungbure, a commissioner in the Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM),
hijacked the nomination forms for the constituency.

This, they said, was done in order to influence the delegates list for their selfish ambition.

But the party’s
director of publicity, Seyi James, defended those accused by the
protesters, saying, “nobody is hoarding the forms.”

Mr James, who noted
that the party would send more forms as soon as it is available, said
the party was aware of the shortage of the forms.