Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state at the weekend said there was no crisis in the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Akeredolu said since the chapter was peaceful, there was no need for the APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to come to the state.
Tinubu was recently appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari to reconcile aggrieved members of the party across the country.
But Akeredolu said the APC was waxing stronger in the state, adding that there were no factions to be reconciled by Tinubu.
He stated this during his first Media Chat titled “An Evening with the Governor” which was organized as part of activities marking his one year in office.
“All is well with APC. Why did I say so? We control 24 states and APC is in all the states of the federation. If you have one or two problems in one or two areas, it is not to say all is not well with APC.
“I will use Ondo state as an example. There is stability in Ondo state. We don’t have problems. Some people may claim there is a problem in APC in Ondo state. But there is no problem.
“I am sure that the peacemaker, Bola Tinubu, that you said was chosen, will have no reason to come here because we are at peace with ourselves.
“We have a party. We have a chairman and the party is being run very well. We welcome people. We welcome everybody. Today, some people joined us. People have been joining us.
“Somebody like Olusola Oke left. But he has returned and I am sure in his second coming, he will stay for us longer.
“So many other people have returned. So many people have joined, at least, from PDP. So many people from Labour Party and from other parties have come to us.
“The party is growing and it is growing in a manner that all of us are happy about it that we have a solid party in the group.
“So, when there is no problem, you don’t need a peacemaker so that he will not come and create a problem.
“We don’t need the peacemaker. We are saying that we are at peace with ourselves. Let us run the party the way we have been running it,” Akeredolu said.
Kicking against local government autonomy, Akeredolu said it would be illegal and unconstitutional to grant it.
He disclosed that all the state governors in the country were against the granting autonomy to local governments.
He said: “There was no time I supported local government autonomy. I am a lawyer and I know federating units of a federation.
“It is an ongoing issue. How we solve it is left for our people. We will continue to appeal to NULGE and all those who are championing it to be reasonable.
“The truth is that the state governors do not believe in local government autonomy because it is not something that is practicable. It is not known to law. It cannot be practiced in a federal system.”
