Ondo State Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi, has perfected plans to resign from office to contest in the October 10 governorship election in the state Ondo Insider has learnt.
The state's number two man is also expected to dump the fold of the ruling All Progressives Congress for the Peoples Democratic Party in order to wrestle power from his boss, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.
There had been a cold feud between Ajayi and Akeredolu, which became visible shortly after the 2019 general elections, when the party lost the presidential election to the opposition PDP.
The rift between the two men also took a new twist, when the governor was suspended from the party by the national leadership following his alleged anti-party activities.
Akeredolu's suspension made supporters of both men take battles to each other's camp to trade blame games.
Akeredolu (right) with Ajayi. Photo: Instagram1n 2016, Ajayi had joined Akeredolu, using the APC platform to fly the party's joint ticket in a horse race and keenly governorship contest to dislodge the then government of the PDP in the state.
It was learnt Saturday morning that barring any last-minute change of mind, the deputy governor would be leaving the APC for his erstwhile political party, the opposition PDP, to join forces in contesting against his boss, Akeredolu.
Since last year, Ajayi had been keeping silent on the political activities of the APC in the state, thereby fuelling speculations that he was already strategising his exit from the ruling party with some of his supporters and key loyalists.
Our correspondent had also observed that the deputy governor, whose office is in charge of some parastatals in the state, had been boycotting all activities of the government, while also keeping his cards for the game close to his chest.
Findings revealed that the deputy governor's defection has created a wedge between key members of the APC and loyalists of Akeredolu who had been pleading with Ajayi not to leave the party but wait until after the primary election slated for next month.
Photo: FacebookIn fact, some APC leaders in the South West including Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, had several times intervened in the face-off between Ajayi and Akeredolu, but their efforts yielded no result in stopping the Kiribo-born grassroots politician from his plan of leaving the party.
Governor Akeredolu is already seeking a second term ticket in his current office, after obtaining his nomination form and subsequently submitting the same in Abuja on Wednesday.
Political pundits in the state have observed that the planned defection of the deputy governor from APC to the PDP might cause a serious crack in the political block of Governor Akeredolu in his bid to secure a second term ticket of the APC.
However, it was exclusively gathered that Ajayi would "officially resign" his position as the deputy governor from the cabinet of Akeredolu before the end of next week and defect.
Strong indication also emerged during the week when the campaign posters of Ajayi began to show up on the various social media platforms – revealing the concluded arrangement of his defection plans.
Also, the rumour about his planned resignation came to fruition on Friday evening, after his return from Abuja where he had held marathon meetings with some key leaders of the opposition PDP.
In one of the meetings, it was gathered that Ajayi had struck a "big deal" with the bigwigs of the opposition party to pick the governorship nomination and expression of interest form to contest for the party's primary slated for July 22.
A current governor from the North West and part of the major financiers of the PDP, who facilitated the meetings was said to have reached out to the national and state leaderships of the party on the workings for the deal.
Ondo Insider also gathered that part of the deal is to move many estranged APC members in the state, who are now dissatisfied with Governor Akeredolu's leadership style along with Ajayi and pitch their tent with the PDP shortly after defecting.
Investigativions revealed that top cabinet members of Governor Akeredolu's government and a handful of lawmakers of the State House of Assembly are part of the move with the deputy governor to abandon the party's fold.
Also, among those willing to join the train with the deputy governor are some aides and former commissioners, who were dropped by Akeredolu during the reshuffle of his cabinet last year July.
In an interview with our correspondent, one of the former Commissioners said that the planned resignation of the deputy governor by next week would be "like a tsunami for the APC government in the state."
An impeccable source and close aide of the deputy governor, who confided in our correspondent, confirmed the planned defection of Ajayi in a phone chat, saying that he had concluded all arrangements to leave the government's cabinet.
"The deputy governor's defection is confirmed for next week and nothing can change it because he just returned to the state after a week where he met some stakeholders on the project ahead of us.
"I can confirm to you right now that he would resign his position from the cabinet any moment from now and join the PDP. So, he is good to go," our source said.
Several attempts to obtain comments from the Commissioner of Information, Donald Ojogo, on the plan resignation of the Deputy Governor from the cabinet, were unsuccessful.
But sources close to his office, who pleaded not to be named, said Ajayi's move was not new to the government.
"There is no move that He (Ajayi) wants to make that we are not aware of, we already know that he is leaving the government but the exact date is what we don't know and this is not new to many of us again.
"He has been perfecting all his plans for a long time because this is the same man who no longer attends government functions again. So, I'm sure that Mr. Governor would be looking forward for his resignation letter by the time he tenders it.
"And we as aides to the governor would be wishing him well in his newly found political party to promote his political career. He wants to contest against his boss, let him go and we shall be meeting on the field, the sky is even wide enough for the birds to fly," the anonymous aide told Ondo Insider.
