Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
Ahead of the All Progressives Congress (APC), state congresses scheduled to hold Saturday in Ekiti State, party stalwart, Chief Segun Ajibulu, has began moves to reconcile the leaders and ensure order, for victory to come the way of the party in the coming elections.
The America based technocrat who served as Commissioner in the State’s Pension Commission between 2010 and 2014, said tolerance and cooperation are all the APC need to be able to surmount pending electoral challenges.
According to him, the state of the APC in Ekiti is not palatable to confront pending elections, hence the need for leaders in the party to put aside their personal interests and work assiduously for the party’s success and electoral victory from the coming congresses to the gubernatorial elections coming next year.
Ajibulu who left his base in the United States of America to participate in the coming APC congresses in Ekiti State, said the first approach to assuage frail nerves among party stakeholders, is to begin by ensuring a free and fair congress where people can vote and be voted for, without restraints.
He therefore enjoined those charged with the responsibility to conduct the congresses to do a thorough job that will restore unity to the party.
Ajibulu arrived the country to begin peace and reconciliatory meetings with stakeholders and youths in the Ekiti State APC, highlighting the need to mend fences and go to the coming polls as one big, formidable family.
At the meeting he held with APC youth in Ikole Local Government, he expressed the need for cohesion and the creation of an enabling environment for peace and tranquility to reign among members.
“We need to invite peace into our midst as one, indivisible APC family. Our house must be put in order to be able to surmount the humongous electoral challenges stirring us in the face. We need to start accommodating ourselves, right from the coming congresses by creating a level playing ground that will guarantee fairness, equity and unity.
“To achieve success in the pending elections, we need to come together under the same roof and see ourselves as one big family, to be able to face the electoral rigours headlong and come out victorious,” he said.
At Ipao, his hometown, the APC chieftain commiserated with the family of Mr Simeon Dada, an APC loyalist who passed on recently and charged the people to use the period of his mourning to right the wrongs in the APC family and the town in general, to forge ahead in unity.
Ajibulu also used the occasion to address the ongoing crisis caused by frictions between the community and the Fulani settlers in the zone.
He enjoined the community to be circumspect in dealing with the issue of settlers, noting that Ipao had been living peacefully with Fulani without rancour until the nomadic Fulani feature with their destructive traits.
“I commiserate so heartily with the family of Mr Simeon Dada (Adamson), a loyal party member and one of our shining stars in Ipao. We will miss him, we will miss his energy, his passion, his zeal and commitment to the good course of our party and mankind.
“I will implore all of us to give him the last respect by ensuring that we all work towards for the peace, unity and well-being of APC and our community, which he stood for during his lifetime. Let us eschew violence and hold on to peace for a successful and laudable and victorious end,” he stressed.
