From Jide Orintunsin, Abuja

Two aspirants yesterday joined the governorship race for the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, ahead of July 20 primaries.

They are Ambassador Sola Iji and Omo Oba Jimi Odimayo.

The duo were at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja with their supporters to buy the expression of interest and nomination forms.

Addressing the aspirants and their followers, the National Organising Secretary of the party, Emma Ibediro, on behalf of the National Working Committee (NWC), assured the duo of a level playing field during the primary.

Speaking with reporters after picking his forms, Iji said attention would be given to education, agriculture and health, adding that youth employment would also be addressed.

He decried the exorbitant fees being paid in the state-owned tertiary institutions and promised to reduce them.

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Iji said: “What we have in mind is to review the fees we charge in our tertiary institutions so that more of our children can have access to tertiary education. “

Ondo State is an agricultural driven state and we need to go back to what we used to do in the 60s and 70s. We not only produced for our own consumption and export, but we also have opportunity to create employment opportunities for our children who are graduating from schools. In those days, we used to have farm settlements.”

Odimayo said he was in the race to change the political and governance narrative of the state by creating job opportunities for youths, leveraging on the agricultural comparative advantage of the state.