- Deputy Governor, SSG, Fasoranti’s son, Marindoti, others jostle for position
- Retain incumbent Dep Gov, Owo APC leaders urge Aiyedatiwa
- Party may use placeholder as INEC deadline ends today
The governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa and the ruling All Progressives Congress are in a dilemma over the choice of a running mate for the forthcoming governorship contest in the state.
Aiyedatiwa’s dilemma was said to have been accentuated by his decision not to pick his deputy, Olayide Adelami as his running mate for the gubernatorial election taking place on November 16.
The Point gathered at the weekend that the governor is presently shopping for a running mate from the Ondo Central Senatorial District, possibly from Akure, the state capital.
The Ondo Central Senatorial District covers the local government areas of Akure North, Akure South, Idanre, Ifedore, Ondo East, and Ondo West.
Adelami was sworn in on February 1, 2024.
Sources disclosed that political calculations have dictated the governor’s move which is to win the governorship election in November.
Adelami is from Owo, the hometown of the late governor, Rotimi Akeredolu. He was a former Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly.
Reliable sources told The Point on Sunday that Adelami has been sending emissaries to the governor to pick him as his running mate.
However, the sources said that Akure has the biggest electoral votes in the state and that the deputy governorship race is most likely between the present Secretary to the Ondo State Government, Tayo Oluwatuyi and a pharmacist son of the National Leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti.
“To beat the INEC deadline to nominate a running mate (since there are still checks yet to be resolved), they will use a placeholder. In 2016, Agboola Ajayi was used as a place holder by Akeredolu because he was the governor’s maternal nephew.”
Oluwatuyi was a former chairman of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affair in the state and a former caretaker chairman of the Akure South council area.
He was equally the SSG under the late governor Rotimi Akeredolu before Aiyedatiwa appointed him again on January 24, 2024.
According to our reliable sources, Adelami does not have electoral values and he is unknown in Owo politics.
“He is an anti-Aketi (Akeredolu) person. He was just picked in January to pacify the people of Owo, but it has clearly shown that he is not a popular politician in Owo. Moreover, the people of Ondo North have had their fair share of the political cake for more than eight years.
“Heaven will not fall if Aiyedatiwa drops him. There is an unwritten constitution in Ondo State politics that the governorship position must rotate within the three senatorial districts.
“I can assure you that Akure people will support any candidate put forward by Aiyedatiwa as his running mate,” one of the sources explained.
Party may use placeholder as INEC deadline ends today
However, desperate to beat the deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission, Aiyedatiwa may have quietly submitted his forms, with the inclusion of a ‘placeholder’ as his running mate.
“To beat the INEC deadline to nominate a running mate (since there are still checks yet to be resolved), they will use a placeholder. In 2016, Agboola Ajayi was used as a place holder by Akeredolu because he was the governor’s maternal nephew. But he reportedly lobbied round; using his influences everywhere, to make sure he did not resign. That was how he became a substantive running mate. So, who is to be trusted as a placeholder? There is a tug of war there,” another source said on Sunday.
INEC has announced a deadline of May 20, 2024 for political parties to submit their candidate lists for the upcoming Ondo State governorship election.
The directive was issued during a crucial meeting last week at the INEC headquarters in Abuja convened for chairmen and senior leaders from various political parties.
The INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu emphasized the importance of this deadline in his address to the party representatives.
“I urge all political parties to finalise their candidates and submit their names by the stipulated deadline of May 20th, when our portal will close,” he stated.
Professor Yakubu further stressed the necessity of strict adherence to electoral guidelines saying, “It is imperative that all participating parties fully comply with the electoral guidelines to ensure a smooth and transparent election process.”
As the deadline approaches, political parties are expected to ramp up their preparations to meet INEC’s requirements, setting the stage for what promises to be a highly contested election.
Jostlers for Deputy Governor from Akure
Besides Oluwatuyi and Fasoranti’s son, those contesting for deputy governor to Ondo State governor include Barrister Olumuyiwa Adu, also known as Cubana.
Cubana, a money-bag in the locality was a People’s Democratic Party House of Representatives aspirant preparatory to the by-election for Akure North/South federal constituency when the occupier of the position died.
He lost out in the bid and then crossed to the ruling APC where he has been very active and committing his resources to party affairs.
Also interested in the position is the current Commissioner for Youths and Sport, Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye, a native of Oba-Ile in Akure North.
He was once Commissioner for Sport and later of Works and Housing under the late former Governor Akeredolu. Until his recent appointment as sport Commissioner by Governor Aiyedatiwa, he was a member of the Board of State Universal Basic Education Board. Yusuf-Ogunleye is the Director-General of the Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organisation Foot Soldiers Independent Council.
However, a pan-All Progressives Congress socio-political organisation- Social Rehabilitation Group has called on the party to back the aspiration of its National Convener, Marindoti Oludare, to be running mate to Aiyedatiwa.
The SRG, in a statement by its South West Coordinator, Demola Obadofin, averred that contributions made toward the campaigns of President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election and to the triumph of Aiyedatiwa over forces plotting to impeach him as deputy governor last year, were overwhelming.
“While Dr Charles Marindoti Oludare, best known by his middle known, Marindoti, is a personality who believes in spending his personal resources to pursue the attainment of his people-oriented objectives and programmes, most of the other people in politics these days believe in siphoning public funds to pursue personal objectives.
“Recall that as a medic in the United States, Marindoti heard then presidential aspirant, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, express frustration with people maligning him on the social media, on platforms that did not provide him with a right of reply, he got moved and took leave of absence from his work place in the US, relocated to Nigeria to undertake intensive media campaigns for Tinubu, at no cost to anyone,” Obadofin said.
The SRG helmsman stressed that it is better for the governor to choose a young and vibrant person like Marindoti from the North District of the part of Akokoland that has never gotten that far, “because, the Central Zone, most likely Akure, is expected to get the governor zoning next.
“If the governor chooses from the Central, that person might see himself as the next governor and start treating Mr. Governor as a lame duck governor leading to unbearable insubordination and legislative connivance that will make Mr. Governor’s tenure untenable.
“But if he chooses a young and vibrant person like Marindoti, he’ll be able to avoid the Ajasin vs Omoboriowo, Mimiko vs Olanusi , Akeredolu vs Agoola debacle of their respective era, since the young medic is not a politician and doesn’t have a gubernatorial ambition,” Obadofin canvassed.
He added that Marindoti, an Oka-Akoko by nativity but who was born and bred in Akure, the state capital, also became concerned, when some selfish politicians moved to impeach Aiyedatiwa as deputy governor, when his boss, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, was seriously sick and spent many months in a German hospital.
“Worried that Aiyedatiwa was not allowed to act as governor in the absence of his boss, and that Akeredolu was medically coerced as some political hawks were forging his signature to award contracts and siphon public funds, Marindoti wrote a strongly worded petition to the Attorney General of the Federation, calling for his intervention.”
Obadofin stated that Marindoti, apart from writing a similar letter to the House of Representatives to come to the aid of Aiyedatiwa when some elements in the House of Assembly were rooting for his impeachment with no clear-cut allegation, also sponsored and granted so many interviews on television and radio stations, for same cause.
“In terms of prevailing zoning arrangement in the state too, Marindoti has come in the right stead, in that, coming from Oka-Akoko, a politically marginalized part of Ondo North senatorial district, he also grew up in Akure, the state capital, which is in the Central District and where he enjoys a large following through his group, the SRG.
“Thus, he is a bridge between two senatorial districts and his SRG is very active in each of the 18 local government areas, where there is a Coordinator fully in charge.”
Obadofin assured that Marindoti, a 35-year-old, as a young and vibrant politician with a rich profile in the medical world, would enrich the Aiyedatiwa administration wondrously, if jointly voted for a tenure of four years.
Retain incumbent Dep Gov, Owo APC leaders urge Aiyedatiwa
Meanwhile, opinion leaders from All Progressives Congress in Owo and its adjourning communities, in Ondo State, at the weekend, rose from an emergency meeting, with admonition to Governor Aiyedatiwa to pick the incumbent deputy governor, Adelami, as his running mate.
Rising from a meeting in Owo, spokesman for the leaders, Adeyemi Olayemi, fondly called Koko, said the prevailing focus is on the senatorial zone to produce the next governor and th at it has tacitly been conceded to the southern district.
Olayemi, a one-time Chief Whip of the Ondo State House of Assembly and currently the Owo local council Director General for Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organisation Foot Soldiers Independent Council, described as mischievous and selfish, the attempt to make Owo lose the deputy governorship slot under Aiyedatiwa.
“One of our leaders in the APC from Owo has been going around canvassing for someone from Akure to become the running mate to Governor Aiyedatiwa in the November governorship election, without giving his crusade a deep reflection.
“To enlighten him, the main aspiration of the Akure people is to produce a governor after the South Senatorial District must have spent out its slot, and not to produce the next deputy governor.
“Akure had produced a deputy governor under Governor Olusegun Agagu of blessed memory, in the person of Chief Omolade Oluwateru; Ikale area had earlier produced in Barrister Afolabi Iyantan while the late Chief Adebayo Adefarati was governor and Akokoland afterwards produced two deputy governors under Governor Segun Mimiko in persons of Alhaji Alli Olanusi and Mr. Lasisi Oluboyo. Agbonmuserin from Igbara -Oke, Akure North was speaker during Adefarati’s administration; he was impeached and replaced with Kenneth Olawale, also from Akure North.
“Owo, a vast kingdom with intimidating voting strength, had never produced a deputy governor until now, and under the zoning arrangement, it will be unfair to make the area produce it for just a year,” Olayemi argued.
He similarly remarked that apart from the zoning issue, Governor Aiyedatiwa and Adelami, his deputy, make a perfect match in terms of harmonious work relationship, experience in public service, and dedication to duties.
Besides, he informed that the Owo meeting, in rising, counseled Senator Jimoh Ibrahim to back down from his relentless moves to frustrate concerted effort of the APC to move with a united team in its ongoing governorship campaigns.
“Owo, a vast kingdom with intimidating voting strength, had never produced a deputy governor until now, and under the zoning arrangement, it will be unfair to make the area produce it for just a year.”
“If the distinguished Senator is trying to be a lonely voice in the wilderness by saying there was no primary election in the APC, is he saying the 1,015 party delegates drawn from 203 wards of the state at five delegates per ward that met in Akure in less than 24 hours after the April 20 primary election lied?
“He should accept the verdict, congratulate Governor Aiyedatiwa, and let us move on as a united force”, he urged.
Efforts to get the reaction of the deputy governor were unsuccessful on Sunday as he did not pick telephone calls or respond to WhatsApp messages.
Before the APC governorship primary, Aiyedatiwa, who is currently seeing out the second term of his departed boss as Ondo State governor, had secured the endorsement of some APC elders, under the aegis of the Ondo APC Aborigines. Still, the decision was rejected by two other frontline aspirants, Wale Akinterinwa and Olusola Oke.
At a meeting in Akure, the state capital, last month, the APC elders said they settled for Aiyedatiwa because he rated highest among the party’s governorship aspirants. But both Oke and Akinterinwa swiftly rejected this, saying they had more political experience and commanded better public acceptability than the current number one citizen of the state.
However, the lucky governor dismissed their claim by gallantly defeating them at the state APC governorship primary, polling 48,569 votes to win 16 out of the 18 local governments in the state. Oke eventually came third in the contest, garnering 14,865 votes, while Akinterinwa had 1,952 votes.
Even though both men later protested and called for a cancellation of the governorship primaries, Aiyedatiwa was later presented with a certificate of return by the ruling party, which sealed his candidacy ahead of the much-acclaimed governorship poll.
