Akure, Feb. 25, 2026( NAN) Elder Demola Ijabiyi, facilitator, PBAT Mandate Elders’ Forum in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, says the forum has expressed its grievances in the just concluded ward congress of the party in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Ijabiyi stated this at the February edition of the Forum’s meeting on Wednesday in Akure.
He said that the ward congress exposed the subtle division in the party.
Ijabiyi recalled that the directive of the national secretariat of the party was to return the current executive members of the party through consensus.
“We are basically here to advance the cause of President Bola Tinubu’s re-election and therefore, anything that can affect it or anything that has bearing with it, we have to address it.
“And that means that we cannot ignore what happened in our ward congress where we had parallel congresses in most of the wards.
“We have already written a memo to Mr President on what to be done on it. And we are well briefed here that we expect that the President will do something to address the situation in Ondo State.
“If addressed, it will not create a permanent division within the party. But right now, that’s what the ward congress has created, division.
“We are not happy. We are disheartened about it because the congress was organised and implemented without the input of elders.
“It is like imposing all those people on us as leaders. But the matter has been brought before the President, who is the national leader of our party, and we believe that he will take action on it. And we are very confident that we act on that memo,” he stated.
According to him, there was no visible division in the party before the congress but mere rumours of a dichotomy existing between the state governor and the Minister of Interior, Dr Bunmi Tunji-Ojo.
He added that the elders in the party at the state level were not aware of any fight between the duo, because both parties would often say there was no fight between them.
“As far as we elders are concerned here, we are not aware of it. So we didn’t go into it, because if you ask the minister , he will say there’s nothing between me and the governor.
“But the ward congress has brought everything out. We are not sure what is really happening. But everything has come out in the ward congress whereby the party now became divided into two,” he stated.
Also speaking, the Vice Chairman of the Forum, Elder Olorunnibe Tawose, noted that the monthly meeting of the forum was to take care of medical needs of the elderly being sponsored by the Interior Minister.
“One of the outcomes is that they will leave this place happier because we have done something to advance their health. The second purpose is to brief ourselves about what is going on in Ondo State, particularly in respect of what happens in our party.
“For today’s, we have about four health programmes for the elders: sugar test, cholesterol, blood pressure and prostate and there are drugs being given to them. After the test, we are going to take care of those with borderline,” he said.
Similarly, Assistant Secretary of the Forum, Mrs Bukky Oludero, noted that the forum had impacted lives of the elders in the state for the past a year.
Oludero said that the forum gave members access to medical specialists to cater for their medical needs for them to live longer. (NAN)
