Our Reporter

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate Mr. Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) has condemned the deplorable state of roads in Ondo State. He said it is a reflection of bad governance.

Jegede spoke during his campaign tour of communities in Odigbo Local Government.

Speaking at the palace of the monarch of Ajue community, the PDP standard-bearer said he had traversed virtually all communities in the state and noticed that they suffered neglect in terms of good roads.

“I have gone round the local government and discovered that the major problem facing your communities is lack of good roads. When the roads are bad, there cannot be any meaningful development in such area.

“This is the situation in virtually all communities across the state. It is a reflection of bad governance.

Read Also: Jegede promises to end farmers-herders clash

“If you vote for us, rest assured that these roads will be attended to; because we know that a good road is a booster for other forms of development,” he said.

Jegede, who also visited Kajola, Oniparaga, Ago Alaye, Omifon and Ore communities, assured farmers of financial empowerment, to enable them embark on large-scale mechanised farming.

“Our people should not be going to Kano, Sokoto or Benue before they could buy rice, beans or yam.

“Our farmers should be able to make them available here, even at a very minimal cost,” he said.

Welcoming the governorship candidate, the Akogbe of Ajue, Oba Bamidele Akinwe, hailed the masses-oriented programmes that formed Jegede’s campaign promises.

He appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that the October 10 governorship poll is free, fair and devoid of violence and bloodshed.

“Just do your best and let’s leave the rest. He (God) is the one that can enthrone and can also dethrone,” Jegede said.

Our Reporter

Former Ondo State governor Dr. Olusegun Mimiko has described provision of quality education and health care delivery as the hallmark of good governance.

He spoke when the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) governorship campaign train stopped at Okitipupa in Okitipupa Local Government.

The ZLP campaign train was received by a huge crowd of party faithful and supporters when it arrived Okitipupa.

Mimiko said any government that failed to prioritise education and health care delivery had failed the people.

“Youths can no longer complete their education, they can’t enjoy quality education because of high tuition fees in government-owned schools.

“It has become impossible for our people to enjoy free health care because of exorbitant bills at government hospitals. These are signs of bad governance,” he said.

Read Also: Akeredolu, Mimiko in crossfire over performance

The ex-governor expressed concern about increase in tuition fees at the state owned tertiary institutions.

“How can a government that met tuition fees at N25,000 unilaterally increase it to over N200,000? This development has sent many people out schools,” he said.

ZLP governorship candidate Mr. Agboola Ajayi said the party would prioritise education and health care delivery.

Ajayi, the deputy governor, said the citizens would enjoy free education at the primary school and secondary school levels if ZLP was elected.

He said tuition fees at the tertiary level would be reduced to N50,000.

Ajayi urged the residents to vote for the ZLP in the interest of good governance and effective service delivery in the October 10 governorship election.

By Osagie Otabor, Akure

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Segun Sowunmi, has said the party has not foreclosed talks with former governor Dr. Olusegun Mimiko for the purpose of winning the October 10 governorship election.

This is despite repeated denials by the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) in Ondo State that there was no alliance talk with the PDP.

Sowunmi, a former spokesman for the Atiku Campaign Organisation, spoke in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

He said PDP leaders were still mounting pressure on Mimiko to collapse the ZLP structure into the PDP with a view to defeating Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the polls.

Read Also; Ondo 2020: Our candidate is the best, ZLP tells electorates

The PDP chieftain noted that Mimiko remained a key factor in ensuring the collapse of the ZLP structures into PDP and supporting Eyitayo Jegede.

He said Jegede would not depart from the vision Mimiko had been driving.

Sowunmi warned that the Ajayi candidature would be dangerous, as he (Ajayi) was desperate about ruling the state.

”Ajayi cannot be trusted. Even when they gave him the second seat, as governor in waiting for Akeredolu, he made life difficult for him and couldn’t have the decency and dignity of resigning his appointment when he chose to jump ship. He carried their mandate up and down in the market, negotiating for what is not lost.

“When we gave him a big reception in a big party like the PDP that did not satisfy him. Can every man insist that every time he goes out for election he must win?  Or he will tell the world that he’s not from Ondo State if he loses this election? There is a limit to how you must scheme, for indeed God Almighty is the best of schemers.”

On Mimiko he said: ”We are not foreclosing alliance with Mimiko. In fact we are still on it and we have been begging everybody that has any voice to help us beg Mimiko. He is too precious to PDP.”

By Emmanuel Oladesu 

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Monday urged the electorate to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) standard-bearer in Ondo State, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN).

The Lagos governor, who chairs the APC National Campaign Council, was in Okitipupa, Ondo South Senatorial District, where he also held consultations with monarchs and community leaders on the need to return Akeredu for a second term.

He said the APC administration in Ondo State had performed creditably, stressing that the governor deserved a re-election for continuity.

Brooms filled the air as a crowd of supporters trooped out to welcome the campaign train that rolled into Ikaleland. The Lagos governor also campaigned in Ore, drumming support for Akeredolu and his running mate, Lucky Ayedatiwa.

According to Sanwo-Olu, the Ondo governor had delivered on his electoral promises, especially in the areas of good governance, road construction, infrastructural development and provision of dividends of democracy.

Urging voters to reward Akeredolu for his services and achievements in less than four years, Sanwo-Olu hoped that the APC would win the poll.

At a meeting with monarchs in Okitipupa Local Government, Sanwo-Olu implored them to support Akeredolu for the continuity of progressive services.

Read Also: Ondo 2020: Our candidate is the best, ZLP tells electorates

He said the APC leadership at the national, regional and state levels is solidly behind Akeredolu’s re-election.

Sanwo-Olu said: “As the chairman of the APC National Campaign Council, it is not enough for me to listen to the news about Ondo. I have come here to see things for myself and I’m very happy at what I have seen here.

“When Governor Akeredolu inaugurated the Ore flyover, I wasn’t around then, but when I got there recently I was surprised. It shows Governor Akeredolu is really working.

“I have come here to campaign for my brother based on the good work he has been doing and we see that he deserves another four years. APC governors in the Southwest are solidly behind him. All of us in APC are fully in support of him.”

Sanwo-Olu said during a campaign at Methodist Primary School in Okitipupa that Akeredolu was ready to surpass his own expectations.

He urged the electorate to vote for APC and defend their ballot.

Governor Sanwo-Olu, who appreciated the support of the Ikale indigenes in Lagos for his election victory during the 2019 governorship poll, assured Ondo State people that Lagos State Government would collaborate more with Ondo State to bring development to the two states.

Governor Akeredolu, addressing the traditional rulers, said it is God that has given him the ability to work in the last three years for the good people of Ondo State, especially in Okitipupa Local Government.

Speaking about the perennial blackout in Ondo South Senatorial District, Governor Akeredolu promised that his administration will not relent until electricity returns fully to the area.

He said the contract that will ensure the electrification project in the area will be signed tomorrow (today).

Speaking on behalf of the traditional rulers, the Abodi of Ikaleland, Oba George Faduyile, said Governor Akeredolu has no problem as far as the people of Ikale are concerned, adding that the people will vote for him on October 10.

By Osagie Otabor, Akure

Former Ondo State governor and leader of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) Dr. Olusegun Mimiko and his successor, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, at the weekend traded blame over performance indexes.

Mimiko, at a campaign at Ile-Oluji in Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo Local Government, said Akeredolu was a disappointment to the people.

He told the crowd that the candidate of the ZLP, Agboola Ajayi, would right the wrongs of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.

Mimiko described Akeredolu’s policy as anti-people, especially the cancellation of free health and increase in tuition fees paid by tertiary institution students.

He said he worked with three governors before emerging as governor for eight years, adding that Akeredolu failed in all critical sectors affecting the well-being of the people.

Mimiko urged the people vote out Akeredolu, saying he (Akeredolu) has vowed to go back to his base if not voted for.

Read Also: Why I will win Ondo poll, by Akeredolu

The former governor said his successor failed to build on the successes recorded in the health and education sectors during his tenure.

He said: “The Akeredolu administration’s claim to performance is nothing but falsehood, as all indices show otherwise.

“There is no person that will say he has not performed. But how do we differentiate performance? Any government that has not democratised education is a bad government.

“This government that hiked school fees is a bad government. Akeredolu’s government is an enemy of the people. Anybody that votes for Akeredolu is selling his children’s future.

“Any government that does not make health free is your enemy. Akeredolu’s government is an enemy of the people for cancelling mother and child and free health for children.

“Any time they come here to campaign for votes, ask him, where is our shuttle buses? Where is our abiye? The government that cancelled trauma centre is your enemy.

“This governor has not performed, he is anti-people. Any government that fails to democratise access to education, health and other essential services to the people is not a good government.”

Ajayi said he has listened to the cries of the people and offered himself as “an alternative to this misrule of Akeredolu.”

But Governor Akeredolu, through the spokesman for his campaign organisation, Olatunde Richard, said it was unfortunate that Mimiko, who sacked over 10,000 workers, was calling his administration anti-people government.

He said he has not sacked anybody in the state workforce, either at the local or state level.

Akeredolu said lecturers that were sacked unjustly at the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo and Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko were alive to bear witness to the anti-people government of Mimiko.

Said he: “These workers were only reinstated by Governor Akeredolu.

“Because of politics, Mimiko killed the Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa (OAUSTECH).  What’s more anti-people than the actions of Mimiko in abandoning the projects left behind by the late Agagu?”