Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State have initiated moves to reconcile Governor Yahaya Bello, Senator Dino Melaye and Hon James Faleke.
The peace initiative is being spearheaded by former Acting Governor of the state, Chief Clarence Olafemi.
Olafemi confirmed to journalists Tuesday in Lokoja that the APC national leadership had mandated him to meet with all warring parties to end the protracted crisis in the party to save the APC from disintegration.
Chief Olafemi said that he opted for the reconciliation of Bello, Faleke and Melaye so that APC can remain united in the state.
He hinted that his move followed a meeting he had with the APC leadership in Abuja where he was mandated to commence the process of bringing all the aggrieved parties to the roundtable.
Olafemi said: “In fulfilment of my role as a member of the dissolved Board of Trustees of APC and one of the party’s founding fathers I paid a visit to the Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun who after the discussion gave me the go-ahead to commence the process of reconciling all warring factions within the party.”
According to him, it became necessary in order not to jeopardise the party’s chances at the next election, adding that he had visited to Faleke who was the running mate to the late Prince Abubakar Audu in the 2015 governorship election.
“Although, some people have misconstrued my visit to Faleke to mean that I have dumped Yahaya Bello for Faleke’s camp, there is no truth in the assertion. I have only gone there as part of the reconciliation process,” he said.
Olafemi said that he will go-ahead with the peace process by visiting other interest groups with a view to bringing them to the roundtable.