- Two former deputy governors lock horns
- Lull in campaign activities suggest vote-buying plans – Voters raise alarm
- PDP candidate, Ajayi, alleges intimidation
- I want to reclaim Ondo’s past glory – SDP candidate, Akingboye
As engagements hot up ahead of the Ondo governorship elections, scheduled to hold on November 16, 2024, analysts have narrowed the election to a battle between two major contenders – the incumbent Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa of the All Progressives Congress and Agboola Ajayi of the opposition People’s Democratic Party.
Both candidates are former deputies to the late governor, Rotimi Akeredolu.
The two major candidates are also from the same region, Ondo South, and had passed through the same political master.
Ajayi was the running mate of Akeredolu in 2016 and his deputy governor. But they parted ways before the 2020 election when Aiyedatiwa was picked as the late governor’s running mate.
Aiyedatiwa is currently the governor of the state and is expected to leverage on his power of incumbency to ward off threats posed by other opponents.
According to sources, apart from having the financial strength to mobilise support for his victory, he now controls the political structures across the 18 local government areas, backed by strong political players in the state.
The Director-General of the Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organisation, Victor Olabimtan, has expressed optimism that the party will win the election, saying that political machinery has been put in place to pave the way for a landslide victory for his party.
According to Olabimtan, the giant strides his party had taken to improve the state in the last seven years are enough confidence boosters.
“This journey will be a repeat performance of what we did less than four years ago when the people of Ondo State filed out in their numbers to elect the late Rotimi Akeredolu (Aketi) as their sixth executive governor.
“Nevertheless, with just 33 days to the election, all the political parties are yet to begin campaigns, which ought to have commenced on June 19, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission timetable.”
“The only difference in this years’ experience is that our victory will be a landslide as the people will again affirm their belief in progressive governance. This is to show you that APC as an assemblage of well-spirited Nigerians who are poised to serve humanity has yielded positive results with several achievements recorded by the present APC administration,” Olabimtan boasted.
However, many of the political analysts in the state do not share Olabimtan’s optimism, as they have continued to list the internal wrangling in APC over the emergence of Aiyedatiwa as the party’s standard-bearer as an albatross, noting that many of the aspirants who participated in the exercises are still aggrieved.
In addition to this, some political onlookers said the poor state of the economy and the pain being allegedly inflicted on the masses under the central APC administration could affect the outcome of the election.
Indeed, the PDP has been leveraging on the poor national economy under the APC as its campaign strategy to convince the people of the state to chase the ruling party away, promising to address the economic concerns of the people, and provide a better future for residents and indigenes of the state.
The Director-General of the PDP campaign group, Eddy Olafeso, said his party was well positioned as a viable alternative and ready to take the power from the APC.
According to him, the APC has failed to fulfill the promise to solve most of the challenges confronting the nation. He insisted that the ruling party had continued to give excuses for its failure.
“The people of this state are hoping for PDP. APC has failed Nigerians and people of Ondo State. There is no more time for promises. You have promised and you have failed. There is nothing to try again.
“Nigerians have realised that it is better they stay with the PDP that has the interest of Nigeria at heart than a party that gives excuses every day. You know there are problems in Nigeria and you made promises, asking Nigerians to vote for you and for five years, nothing has changed,” he said.
LULL IN POLITICAL ACTIVITIES
Nevertheless, with just 33 days to the election, all the political parties have yet to begin campaigns, which ought to have commenced on June 19, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission timetable.
While the opposition PDP has appointed a former commissioner, Clement Faboyede, as the Director General of the party’s governorship campaign council, the ruling APC named a House of Representatives member, representing Ondo East/ Ondo West Federal Constituency, Abiola Makinde, as its campaign DG.
The PDP has also constituted a campaign council with the Governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, as the chairman.
The inauguration of the APC campaign committee was shifted twice before it was eventually constituted last week.
Investigations showed that the Agboola Ajayi campaign Organisation, has commenced subtle campaigns across the state but has not embarked on a full-blown campaign.
The voters across the state have become agitated by this development because campaigns by parties are expected to have commenced since June 19, going by the INEC timetable.
Political analysts, who expressed concern over the current inertia in the polity, said it was an indication that the parties might be strategising to engage in vote-buying rather than waste time cross-crossing the state to campaign for votes.
Those interviewed by The Point described the development as worrisome and a minus to the nation’s nascent democracy.
On the delay in kick-starting its political campaigns, the Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kennedy Peretei, said, “We have started campaigns since June 19, 2024. The only thing we did not do was an official flag off of the campaigns. The national and state campaign councils were inaugurated as well as various local government campaign committees. We adopted a strategy of reaching out to the individual voters who hold the aces on election day.”
On allegations of not campaigning because of plans to buy votes, Peretei said, “We don’t need to induce voters because they already know where the shoe pinches them and are ready to change the tide for a better life.
“Financial inducement is the plan of those who have stolen from our treasury and use hunger as a weapon to garner votes. But I can assure you that this time; their plans will fail because the people are wiser now.”
APC FLAGS OFF CAMPAIGN, PROMISES N73, 000 MINIMUM WAGE
The Ondo State chapter of the APC kicked off its governorship campaign on Saturday with a pledge to continue developmental initiatives across the state.
Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa also announced the implementation of a N73, 000 minimum wage for workers, surpassing the Federal Government’s N70, 000 benchmark.
Speaking at the Ondo central senatorial district campaign flag-off in Ondo City, Aiyedatiwa emphasised his administration’s commitment to the welfare of Ondo residents and promised investments to create a more conducive business environment.
Addressing a large crowd, Aiyedatiwa urged supporters to translate their backing into votes for the APC in the November 16 election, ensuring the continuity of ongoing projects.
He highlighted his administration’s achievements over the past 10 months, particularly in agriculture, infrastructure, security, healthcare, and education. The Governor noted that more than N1 billion had been allocated for land clearing and rural road construction to support farmers and improve productivity.
The campaign will continue in Ikare Akoko on Monday (today), as the APC targets further voter engagement in Ondo North Senatorial District.
“Analysts argue that as things stand, Aiyedatiwa appears to be the strongest contender for the position, with many predicting him to win the election.”
VOTERS EXPRESS DOUBTS
The political atmosphere in the state is changing rapidly with contending political parties going about selling their candidates and programmes to the electorate.
Investigations showed that the situation on ground is not without its many doubts.
For instance, some residents of the state, especially youths, have expressed their reservations about the state Residents Electoral Commission Mrs. Oluwatoyin Babalola, by questioning the extent of her neutrality ahead of the governorship election.
They alleged that the REC could be secretly working with some political players in the state.
The Ondo State REC, however, had repeatedly denied the allegation, stressing that the commission operates an open-door policy with all political parties.
According to her, “no political party has ever approached us that we have not responded to or engaged with.”
“We are neutral; we do not have any candidate and we are not a political party. We carry out our duties as we are supposed to, guided by the law. Our responsibility is to ensure that everything we do is within the confines of the law.
“We follow all rules and guidelines laid down in the electoral process, and there is no favouritism towards any political party. Every political party is registered under the law and has the right to exist and engage with INEC,” Mrs. Babalola had stated, dousing the fire of doubts ignited by the worried youths and other stakeholders in the state.
In spite of the numerous doubts, the contending political parties have busied themselves shopping for votes. Already, the INEC has cleared about 17 political parties and their candidates, but out of this number, only three or four parties have been active, selling their candidates and programmes to the people.
Out of this number, only two of them, APC and the main opposition PDP have been very active. The other less active parties in the race include the Labour Party with Sola Ebiseni as the candidate; the Social Democratic Party which produced Bamidele Akingboye while the New Nigeria’s People Party has former NDDC commissioner, Gbenga Edema, as its candidate.
According to findings by The Point, apart from lacking the same visibility and prominence as APC and PDP, both the LP and SDP are in turmoil.
While Ebiseni is still struggling to authenticate his candidacy as the standard-bearer of LP, the SDP is also enmeshed in crisis following the resignation of the party’s deputy governorship candidate, Mrs. Susan Alabi, who had ceased to be a member of the party.
The LP has been rocked by litigation for some time now. Only a few days ago, a Federal High Court in Abuja, had ordered INEC to recognise Ebiseni as the candidate of the party, but the leadership of LP had disowned the judgment, describing it as a joke taken too far.
The leadership of the party, through the Publicity Secretary, Ayo Williams, had said the party’s legal team was already reviewing the judgment and would “initiate the appeal process to ensure that justice is served. We remain committed to our principles and will not be deterred by this setback.”
On the part of SDP, it has yet to overcome the problem of finding an acceptable running mate for its candidate about 33 days to the governorship election. The choice of a suitable and acceptable running mate will, no doubt, play a major in the final outcome of the election, especially its performance.
But it is not known how the people of the Sunshine state will react to the campaign strategies of the contending parties or whether or not the poor performance and/or negative perception of the Tinubu government will erode support for APC in the election.
The camp of Aiyedatiwa, however, has continued to receive new entrants to support his ambition.
The recent defection of former Governor Olusegun Mimiko’s foot soldiers to APC is no doubt a big blow to the PDP, though the leadership of the opposition party downplayed it, saying most of the politicians who defected to APC have been working for APC for a long period and are not regarded as members, observers still saw the development as a big harvest for the ruling party.
ZONING AGREEMENT
Investigations further revealed that one remarkable feature of the campaign is that none of the candidates is cashing in on the problems and sentiments wrong zoning by any party might present.
The zoning sentiment favours all the contenders in the race as they are all from the Southern senatorial district of the state. Observers noted that the PDP and the APC deliberately zoned their tickets to the Ondo South not just because of balancing the state’s principle of power rotation. It was about splitting the votes from the area among the contenders, they argued.
Analysts argued that as things stood, Aiyedatiwa appeared to be the strongest contender for the position, with many predicting him to win the election.
The analysts, however, believed that it would be a wrong calculation to underrate the PDP candidate, Ajayi given his strong political credentials.
The former deputy governor is regarded as one of the few grassroots mobilisers in the state. They argued that, apart from being popular, any politician who underrates Ajayi does so at his own peril.
PDP CANDIDATE, AJAYI, ALLEGES INTIMIDATION
Meanwhile, the governorship candidate of the PDP, Agboola Ajayi, has raised the alarm that the ruling APC is intimidating members of his party ahead of the poll.
The former deputy governor, who disclosed this at the party’s Secretariat, in Akure during a meeting organised by the youth leaders of the party posited that no amount of intimidation would make the incumbent governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, to win the election.
”We have seen signals, we have seen their plans and we are not scared of any intimidation because this is our state, what is going to happen is that people will go out and vote, we are not scared of anybody. Once our people conduct themselves in a peaceful manner, you can’t take away their rights to vote for whoever they want to vote for.
“I have always advised them that they must not allow any reflection to frustrate them and they must conquer poverty and they will do that by their votes. We have prepared for them and we are ready for them, we would resist any act of intimidation by any opposition in this state.
Forget about the power of any incumbency, the power of the masses is more than any incumbency power.”
Ajayi, who boasted that he had conquered poverty at the age of 22, said there was nothing special about him other than the interest and wellbeing of the people in the state.
“The PDP campaign this time around will turn around all the local government areas of the state for us to win, people are anxiously waiting for PDP. Don’t be intimidated, we own this state together. Go out on November 16 to vote for PDP and make sure your vote is counted,” he added.
I WANT TO RECLAIM ONDO’S PAST GLORY, SDP CANDIDATE, AKINGBOYE
In the same vein, the governorship candidate of SDP, Bamidele Akingboye, has declared that he is in the race to reclaim the past glory of the state and reposition it to a better height.
While claiming that he had better chances among the contestants, he declared that the present governor of the state under APC, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, was doing nothing to improve the wellbeing of the people.
Akingboye made this declaration while addressing journalists at a press conference held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital at the weekend.
Akingboye insisted that the previous governors who governed the state recorded 80 per cent failure and only 20 per cent success in major areas of human endeavours.
