Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, has said there is nothing like a group called South West Agenda 2023 (SWAGA) in the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
SWAGA headed by the former Minister of Work, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, was formrd to promote the 2023 presidential ambition of former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Fayemi said the group was wrong to have been conceived when the Lagos State Governorship Advisory Council (GAC) being chaired by Mr Tinubu had dissolved all groups in the APC in Lagos, for internal cohesion.
Newsflash Nigeria had reported that the ward 8 Chairman of the party in Ado Ekiti, Clement Afolabi, was removed from office on Monday by the party executives at the Ado Ekiti LGA after he was accused of anti party activities.
According to a letter from the party secretariat at the Ado Ekiti LGA, Mr Afolabi was accused of anti party activities, but failed to appear before a panel to defend himself.
Following his removal, loyalists of the National Leader of APC, Bola Tinubu accused Mr Fayemi of masterminding the move, criticizing him for his alleged intolerance of those opposed to his perceived presidential ambition.
The Special Adviser to the President Muhammadu Buhari on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, who joined in the accusation against the governor, said Mr Afolabi was removed from office because he identified with a group called South West Agenda 2023 (SWAGA), noted for its campaign for Mr Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
Also, the former Minister of Work, Prince Dayo Adeyeye had on Wednesday called on the leadership of the party to place the governor on the watch list over his alleged anti-party activities following his recent statement and activities in the state chapter of the APC.
The APC in Ekiti State and aides to the governor deny the allegations.
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Mr Fayemi had, in the past, described SWAGA and its activities as anti-party, confirming his opposition to the group’s activities in support of Mr Tinubu.
The governor said it was wrong for the group to have been conceived in the first instance, when the Lagos State Governorship Advisory Council(GAC) being chaired by Mr Tinubu had dissolved all groups in the APC in Lagos, for internal cohesion.
Speaking through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications, Segun Dipe, on Thursday described Adeyeye as a failed politician who is in search of relevance in the polity.
According to the governor, the South West Agenda (SWAGA) being headed by Adeyeye to promote the reported 2023 presidential ambition of former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu is a misnomer and unknown to the hierarchy of the party.
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The governor said Mr Adeyeye erred when he linked him to the removal of a “mere Ward Chairman.”
“We consider referring to himself (Adeyeye) as SWAGA Chairman within the APC as a misnomer,” he said.
“Perhaps Adeyeye needs to be reminded that the APC had since made pronouncements against setting up groups within the party.
“Just last year June (2020), the Lagos APC, led by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu dissolved all groups within the party into the APC structure in the state.”
Mr Dipe said according to a communique signed by the Governor’s Advisory Council, which is the highest decision making body within the Lagos APC, all groups, including the two most powerful -The Mandate Group and Justice Forum ceased to exist.
“The resolution, Tinubu himself said, was to restate the often stated position that the only group known is the APC and not any of the factional groups,” he said.
“One then wonders where Adeyeye and his co-travellers derived their powers to float another group within the APC, which they are calling APC members to start porting to. If this is not an anti-party move, then we wonder what it is.”
The statement added that the comments credited to the governor during last week’s ‘The Platform’ event in Lagos was a testimony of his altruistic and democratic acumen.
“While fielding questions on the agitations by the youths, Governor Fayemi said the young people should stop agonising and start organizing. And that if they don’t like what APC is doing, there’s only one way: Let them organize, go to a party of their choice and vote against us.
“We expect Adeyeye as a journalist to know better than being narrow-minded. Instead of accusing Fayemi of anti-party activities, what this shows is Fayemi’s fair-mindedness and democratic credentials.
“But he has opted to deliberately apply the mischief rule in his interpretation of Dr Fayemi’s words.
“We won’t blame him (Adeyeye) though, we can only regard him as an out-of-favour, a narrow-minded and self-serving politician who is looking for a platform, real or imagined, to re-launch himself,” he said.
He said no amount of character assassination from the likes of Mr Adeyeye, would reduce his relevance, and would rather wave it off as one of the usual tantrums of a desperate politician in search of relevance.
