The protest against the substitution of Eyitayo Jegede's name with Jimoh Ibrahim as governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) continued yesterday in Akure,the state capital and other parts of the state
The protest brought traffic to a standstill at the popular Oba Adesida road while market women closed their shops to register their displeasure over the substitution of the candidate.
Apart from the market women, PDP leaders and members of the public who are sympathetic to Jegede's aspiration,trooped out in their large numbers to protest against the decision of INEC.
The protesters are armed with placards with inscriptions such as: "Justice Abang is a disgrace to judiciary, Abang is rotten egg, FG and judiciary should allow INEC to be independent, Justice Abang is an APC , Ondo state women are angry, we have right to determine our candidate, INEC is no longer independent under Federal Government ."
The protesters who vowed to continue the protest until INEC return Jegede's name back to list , moved from Ijapo street, the PDP secretariat to the Palace of the Deji of Akure kingdom, Oba Aladelusi Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, the state chairman of the party, Engr. Clement Faboyede, said they are in the palace to intimate the monarch about the happenings in the state.
Faboyede who said the protesters don't want any crisis in the state, urged him to prevail on the relevant authority to correct the injustice.
"We don't want Ondo State to be on fire because our state is peaceful. Some cabals in All Progressive Congress (APC) are using Jimoh Ibrahim against the candidacy of Jegede, Jimoh is not a PDP member but rather a card carrying member of Accord party.
"No court can impose any candidate on our party. Please, appeal to this judges to stop all this drama they are doing. Eyitayo is our candidate and nobody can use trick to stop our candidate. We are not going to take that from them. We are begging Kabiyesi to intercede on our behalf to talk to INEC."
Responding, Oba Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi, who appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene the crises arising from substitution of Eyitayo Jegede with Jimoh Ibrahim ,urged INEC to correct any mistake they might have made.
The monarch said," we don't want anything to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere of this state. In 1983, we lost some of our sons and daughters, we don't want anything of such again.
"The judiciary should also intervene and make sure that all parties get justice because we don't want any injustice in Ondo State. The President should make sure that whatever needed to be done be done on this matter. Nobody can be governor through the back door. "
Meanwhile , the PDP caucus of the State House of Assembly has condemned the recent replacement of the party candidate by the INEC.
The lawmakers said as part of statutory delegates of the party in any primaries, the emergence of Jimoh Ibrahim is antithetical to the party and the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Addressing journalists yesterday in Akure, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Jumoke Akindele said, the imposition of Ibrahim as the candidate of the party was not in tandem with contemporary democracy and amounted to a subversion of the mandate that was freely given to Eyitayo Jegede.
Akindele said," We use this opportunity to appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari not to allow democracy in Ondo state to be derailed. Ondo state is historically a politically sensitive state as the citizenry conscious of their rights would not allow any external force to elect or impose any Governorship Candidate on them. And in other to prevent the unforeseen circumstances, the needful should be done."
