From Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure

THE crisis rocking the Ondo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday produced its first major casualty, as the State Working Committee (SWC) of the party sacked the chairman, Hon.Isaac Kekemeke and appointed an acting chairman for the party.

The SWC members took the decision at an emergency meeting attended by 36 members from all the 18 Local Government Areas of the state.

The position of the SWC of the party climaxed the crisis which has polarised the party as a result of the alleged endorsement of Dr Segun Abraham as the party’s standard bearer by the National Leader of the party, Senator Bola Tinubu.

Kekemeke was alleged to have doctored the list of delegates for the party’s governor- ship primary election scheduled for August 27.

The SWC in a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting directed the deputy chairman of the party, Mr. Ade Adetimehin to act as the chairman until further notice.

Other allegations leveled against Kekemeke include anti-party activities, romance with the ruling party in the state, misappropriation of the party’s funds, and non-commitment to party activities, among others.

The communiqué reads in part: “The state chairman and his associates had maliciously and willfully doctored the party’s delegates list and injected names of those who never took part in any of the party’s congresses in order to frustrate the helpless aspirants in the forth- coming primary in the state.

“Kekemeke and his cronies are more of PDP’s moles within the APC family which cannot lead the party to victory in the forthcoming governorship election.

“As a result of the reported allegation raised against the chairman, the house further resolved that he should step aside from his position as the state chairman and should surrender all the party’s property in his possession for ease of proper investigation.

“To this end, a three-man disciplinary committee has been set up to investigate all the allegations leveled against the embattled chairman.”

The disciplinary committee, which comprises Mr. Solagbade Amodeni, Mr. Jaiyeoba Oluwatuyi and Mr. Akin Ogunsakin was given seven days to complete the assignment and report to the SWC of the party.

Reacting, Kekemeke described the aggrieved SWC members as “funny characters” who had appointed two chairmen within a week, saying the group had earlier appointed Mr Saka Yusuf as chairman.

Kekemeke said the aggrieved members were not knowledgeable about the con-

titution of the party, as only the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party has the right to remove a state chairman.

He said: “We have entered the second scene of the drama. It was a drama, but that was act one, scene one. They are moving to act two. If within one week they appointed two chairmen, that will show to the world that it is a real drama.”

“My appeal to them is that they should apply some caution in the way we fight, knowing fully well that we are one family and we need to reserve all the energy we have for the November 26 governorship election,” he added.