As political parties prepare for this year’s governorship election in Ondo State, Osagie Otabor, in Akure takes a look at the politics of running mates and how it would affect results of the election

AS political parties prepares for this year’s governorship election in Ondo State, Osagie Otabor, Akure takes a look at the politics of running mates and how it would affect results of the election

With the emergence of Ondo State Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi, as governorship candidate of the Zenith Labour Party, the October 10 governorship race is now a three-horse race. Other main contenders are Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of the All Progressives Congress and Eyitayo Jegede of the Peoples Democratic Party. The three candidates are each from the three senatorial districts. Akeredolu hails from Owo in Ondo North Local Government Area, Jegede hails from Akure in Ondo Central while Agboola hails from Kiribo in Ondo South Senatorial District.

Ondo South has the highest percentage of registered voters with over 39 percent followed by Ondo South with over 33 percent while Ondo North has over 27 percent of registered voters.

Ondo North is the stronghold of the APC, Ondo South is the stronghold of the PDP while Ondo Central is supposed to be the bastion of the ZLP but in the 2019 general elections, former Governor Olusegun Mimiko, who is the leader of the ZLP, failed to secure a win for the party. The ZLP is confined to two local governments, Ondo East and Ondo West.

The three candidates, therefore, had to rely on votes from other senatorial districts to secure victory in the October 10 governorship election. They had to resort to pick running from areas with high voting population.

It was gathered that Governor Akeredolu’s experience with Agboola’s alleged disloyalty as his deputy made him to pick a less ambitious party man, Lucky Ayedatiwa, as his running mate. Jegede picked a member of the House of Representatives, Hon Gboluga Ikengboju, representing Irele/Okitipupa while Agboola picked a former Ondo Commissioner for Works, Engr. Gboye Adegbenro.

Ayedatiwa hails from Ilaje Local Government in Ondo South, Hon Ikengboju hails from Okitipupa also in Ondo South while Engr. Adegbenro hails from Ifedore in Ondo Central. Ilaje, where Ayedatiwa hails from, has the 4th highest voting population. Okitipupa has the sixth highest voting population while Ifedore is number 10 in local government voting strength.

But an insider who pleaded anonymity said running mates have never determined electoral victory in Ondo State. He said the people have always decided who to vote for irrespective of where the Deputy Governor is picked from.

Jegede had to resist pressure from political leaders to pick one of the aspirants that contested against him. He rejected Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi, who was first runner up at the primary, on excuse that he needed somebody he could trust.

Read Also: Court awards N15m to three Ondo lawmakers

One of the aspirants, Godday Erewa, in a statement said the selection of a running mate was a crucial component of the electioneering process and could be instrumental in either boosting or hampering the electoral victory of a political party, especially in an election that is bound to be fiercely contested.

According to him, “Against this backdrop, it is quite confounding that the Ilaje nation was deliberately neglected in the choice of a running mate for the PDP candidate. Are we saying that there is no one in Ilaje nation to be so nominated by the PDP?

“This decision to ignore us is generating palpable tension and disenchantment and if not properly managed, the consequences would be immensely catastrophic.”A former local government chairman in Okitipupa Local Government Area, Hon. Solomon Bitire, accused Jegede of failing to give a sense of belonging to members of the PDP outside his political camp.

”Jegede is on a vengeance mission since he emerged the candidate of the party.

”The last straw that breaks the camel’s back is his insistence to choose another member of his political camp as running mate.”

Also, members of the PDP who are supporters of another aspirant, Banji Okunomo, said they have backed out of campaign activities of Jegede until further notice.

But a PDP chieftain, Bode Obanla, said the party is happy with the choice of Hon Gboluga. “We are okay with the running mate. It is strategic. Aketi picked from Ilaje. Ilaje said they want governor, so they will not vote APC. Jegede picked from Okitipupa which has high votes. Issue of old PDP and new PDP is still there. As we pick from Okitipupa, the other constituency will vote for us. We will win Okitipupa, Irele and Odigbo. Ilaje will vote for Jegede because they will produce the next governor.”

To Dayo Akinsehilo, “When you pick your bearer from the Central, you have to pick from the South. The South is the stronghold of PDP. If we give it to the South, that is enough reason for the leaders to support the project. All of them must rise up to support Jegede irrespective from the area the running mate was picked from. Agboola from the south will not be a threat. The ZLP has no structure to win election.”

Also, the choice of Adegbenro was not pleasing to some members of ZLP who felt the party should have picked a running mate from Akoko area in Ondo North with a view to give Akeredolu a fight.

According to the source, “In as much as ZLP is not picking its running mate from Akoko, the party should forget about the votes of Akoko people.

Osagie Otabor, Akure and Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja

 

Ondo State governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has raised the alarm over alleged plot by his estranged deputy and governorship candidate of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Agboola Ajayi, to use fake documents to embarrass and malign him.

Governor Akeredolu said the plot was initiated five months ago and aimed to harass him, top government officials as well as members of his immediate family.

The governor’s allegation against his deputy came just as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), warned him against assigning any role to the Amotekun Corps in the state’s governorship election scheduled for October 10.

Akeredolu who spoke through the spokesman for his campaign organisation, Olabode Richard Olatunde, said contents of the documents containing Agboola’s plot against him were unimaginable lies and imaginary concoctions.

He said it was part of the many ignoble plots hatched to discredit him and the APC ahead of the October 10 governorship election.

The Ondo governor alleged that Ajayi engaged the services of two popular printers in Ondo town and Akure, the state capital, to print fake documents and clone receipts purported to have been presented by members of the governor’s immediate family and senior government officials for transactions.

“While Governor Akeredolu and indeed, the APC family remain unperturbed over any such plot against the Project of Grace, it is, nonetheless, pertinent to alert the unsuspecting public, particularly the good people of Ondo State.

“For the records, the Akeredolu administration’s proclivity for transparency and accountability has made it a difficult task for anyone to malign, blackmail and discredit his administration.

“On our part, we shall inexorably sustain the civil, issues-based and persuasive campaigns that had been enunciated from the beginning of this process.”

Read Also: Amotekun won’t be under IG, say Akeredolu, Makinde

But Agboola said the governor was being haunted by the injustice he dispensed to the people of Ondo State

He said: “The fact that the family of Akeredolu is running the government is an open secret to everyone in Ondo State and don’t need any document, either clone or otherwise, to prove that. Like lawyers say, the fact speaks for itself.

“The wife of the governor has about six projects which she used to siphon money while the son is the consultant to the board of IGR and has access to N4b stashed in an account where he got ten per cent of the money.

“People don’t need document to show that the government of Akeredolu is the government of father, mother and son and in-laws. This is why people are clamouring for his exit from the state.”

Osagie Otabor, Akure

 

A CHIEFTAIN of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, has declared the party dead in Ondo State following his exit to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Ibrahim stated that the strategy he used to revive the PDP from death would be deployed to destroy the party in the October 10 governorship election.

The business mogul, who spoke when he officially joined the APC at Igbotako, Okitipupa Local Government Area, said the PDP and its candidate, Eyitato Jegede, would lose the election even if they spent all the resources at their disposal.

He said he joined the APC because of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu’s gaint strides across the state, particularly his efforts at resuscitating Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology which was abandoned by the Mimiko administration for eight years.

According to him, “I do not want to sound proud, but I revived PDP in this state. I know how I revived the party and I am going to use the same strategy to kill the PDP.

Read Also: ZLP receives PDP, APC members

“I have received the broom from our party chairman here. This night, I will do something. I will give the PDP its poison. I know how I revived the party. I will poison the party to death again.

“I have tried not to talk about the ZLP. I pray we will not suffer in this life. Where is Zenith Labour Party in this state? The painful thing is that Agboola saw a golden opportunity and missed it to join the train of betrayers.

“Let me congratulate you, Mr. Governor. You are going to win that election with a wide margin.”

State chairman of the party, Engr. Ade Adetimehin, who received Ibarahim, said the APC parades an array of leaders of integrity and proven character across the state.

He described the decision of Jimoh Ibrahim to join the APC as one informed by the quality of its members.

Our Reporter

Membership of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) in Ondo State has increased following defection of chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the party.

Among the defectors were a former chief of staff to ex-governor Olusegun Mimiko, Dr. Kola Ademujimi and Chief Bepie Akintade.

Read Also: ZLP okays Adegbenro as Agboola’s running mate

They defected to the ZLP at Idanre Local Government.

Ademujimi said they left the PDP over the primary election that brought in Eyitayo Jegede.

Our Reporter

Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has said the signs of his victory in the October 10 governorship election are clear.

He said the signs were that the projects he executed were God’s projects and God would ensure victory for him and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Read Also: ‘How we will ensure Akeredolu’s victory’

Speaking in a live programme monitored in Akure, Akeredolu debunked insinuations that the Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi, left the APC with many members of the party.

He said it was only Ajayi who left the APC.