According to Olanusi, he was cajoled to the extended stakeholders' meeting held at the APC secretariat by Ade Adetimehin, the Ondo APC chairman.
Alhaji Ali Olanusi, a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, has rejected the indirect primaries' stand adopted by the state chapter.
According to Olanusi, the adoption of indirect primaries by the APC leadership in Ondo State is "an effort in futility”.
Olanusi, a former Deputy Governor of Ondo State, spoke to journalists over the phone in Akure on Thursday.
He said he was cajoled to the extended stakeholders' meeting held at the APC secretariat by Ade Adetimehin, the Ondo APC chairman.
He added that the thought was that his presence at the meeting would give credence to such "arrangement", as a member of the BoT of the party.
"I discovered there was no agenda for the meeting and they never briefed me about what they wanted to do. But I was thinking the stakeholders’ meeting was called to further brief us about the decision taken at the party's national secretariat," he said.
"To my surprise, the next thing they did was to call for a motion for the adoption of the indirect primaries. And it was moved by the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Right Honourable Bamidele Oleyelogun.
"I left immediately they called for a motion for adoption of indirect primaries. So, it was an arranged meeting. If I had prior knowledge of the meeting, I would not have attended. Those behind that meeting were mischievous and kept the motive away from critical stakeholders, who will query their decision."
SaharaReporters had reported how the Ondo State APC adopted indirect primaries at a meeting attended by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and all members of the State Executive Council. [story_link align="left"]62600[/story_link]
Olanusi disclosed that he had tried to express his displeasure with the "kangaroo congress" conducted in few months back.
He said: "I told them that the names were written without people attending the congress, and that they cannot use that document for indirect primaries.
"So, rather than saying there was no proper register list and many of the new members have not registered, why not let us agree on consensus candidates that should be handled by the leaders of the party.
"Some states agreed on consensus and if they had agreed as I suggested, we could also adopt it.”
The former Deputy Governor hinted that the process that produced the incumbent State Working Executive (SWE) of the APC was not credible.
According to him, the parallel congress, which was said to have produced the current SEC members, was handwritten by the Governor.
"The congress that produced them was personally written by Akeredolu, as all members were shut out. No member was allowed to obtain forms, even after paying to the banks, as directed by national leaders of our party," he added.
He also said he had disassociated himself from the cabinet of the present administration in the state, due the style of leadership.