Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu has been suspended by the All Progressives Congress, APC, according to reports from PUNCH.

The paper said the governor was suspended for his anti-party activities, which cost the party the National Assembly elections in the state.

The governor’s suspension was confirmed by a member of the National Working Committee, NWC of the party to PUNCH on Friday.

According to him, after the governor was issued query by the NWC, he claimed not to have seen the query, this necessitated the national leadership of the party to mandated the National Vice Chairman for the South-West to make it available to him.

“Yes, the governor has been suspended by the NWC. He claimed that he has not seen the paper (query) and we asked the National Vice Chairman from the South-West to make a copy available to him.

“After the election, we want to build and not to destroy the house. But we want to do the needful. Since we suspended the Imo and Ogun states governors, we want to treat them the same way.

“We have suspended them but they need to defend themselves, It is like a query and a suspension. They have to advance reasons why they did what they did.

“Some people grumbled that why will three people commit similar infraction and we will suspend only two. That was what brought about the suspension of the Ondo State Governor,” the NWC member who spoke under the condition of anonymity told PUNCH.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Lanre Issa-Onilu however refused to comment on the matter when he was contacted.

Recall that the governor’s of Ogun, Ibikunle Amosun and Imo, Rochas Okorocha had earlier been suspended by the NWC of the party after the 2019 elections over what the party termed anti-party activities.

The NWC also recommended to the National Executive Committee, NEC of the party that both men be expelled from the party.

Issa-Onilu also then, revealed that Governor Akeredolu was likewise issued a query by the NWC.

Both Okorocha and Amosun supported the candidate of another party in the governorship elections in their home states, against the candidates of the APC.

In Ogun, having failed to secure the flag of the APC, Amosun’s protégé, Abdulkabir Akinlade moved out of the party to the Allied Peoples Movement with the support of the governor who openly campaigned for him.

At the Presidential campaign rally President Muhammadu Buhari in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital, members of the APM who had also promised their support for him in the presidential election gained access to the venue, and threw objects at party leaders including the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.

Just like in Ogun, Okorocha had wanted his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu as the candidate of the APC in the governorship election in the state.

Unable to secure the ticket, he left for Action Alliance, where he was openly backed by the governor.

A similar scenario played out in Ondo, where loyalists of Governor Akeredolu who could not secure the ticket of the party in the national assembly elections in the state moved to the Action Alliance, AA.

Although Akeredolu denied backing them, as he never openly came out to campaign for them, the state chairman of the APC, Ade Adetimehin was caught on camera campaigning for the House of Representatives candidate of the AA in his home constituency of Idanre just before the elections.

When contacted, the Ondo State Commissioner for Information, Mr Yemi Olowolabi, said, “The matter is an internal affair of the APC, and whatever issues have arisen would also be addressed at the level of the party.

“But, contrary to claims that he was suspended for not responding to the query him, it is not true. The governor never got a query from the party. We only read of it in the papers and you cannot respond to such.”