Aiyedatiwa Speaks Out: Denies Involvement In Attack On APC Chairman

The Governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has rejected allegations linking him to the violence that disrupted the stakeholders’ meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state on Tuesday.

During the incident, the state APC Chairman, Ade Adetimehin, and other party leaders were reportedly beaten after hoodlums, allegedly members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), stormed the party secretariat in Akure, the state capital.

The injured party officials, currently receiving treatment in hospital, claimed that the governor sponsored the attackers to disrupt the meeting.

In response, Aiyedatiwa said the violence was caused by miscreants who had no business at the state secretariat. He led party leaders to a separate stakeholders’ meeting with members of the congress committees from the national party secretariat.

He explained that the originally planned 10 a.m. meeting on Tuesday had not been formally scheduled and was later moved to 2 p.m. to allow him and other senior officials, including the Speaker and Deputy Governor, to attend.

Stressing his respect for due process and denying any hostility toward the congresses, Aiyedatiwa attributed the chaos to factional disputes over candidacy, emphasizing that the earlier gathering involved rival supporters rather than an official party meeting.

He said, “Normally, we have stakeholders’ meetings, and as governor, I always attend alongside the Speaker and Deputy Governor. All of us are present at every stakeholder meeting.

“In the first quarter of this year, we had one in January before the state’s anniversary, with 60 persons from each local government. But this one was an impromptu stakeholders’ meeting because of the ward and local government congresses.

“Later, I received a call reporting some problems caused by miscreants around the party secretariat. I instructed the caller to contact the Commissioner of Police, and I also called the Commissioner myself to ensure security was deployed, as I intended to attend the meeting.