…Says, my deputy has no electoral value
Ahead of the October 10 Governorship election in Ondo state, candidate of the All Progressives Congress APC and incumbent governor, Rotimi Akeredolu has vowed to defeat the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Eyitayo Jegede in what he said would be a replay of what happened in the 2016 election when he first defeated the PDP candidate.
Akeredolu who spoke on Monday at the national secretariat of the APC shortly after appearing before the Ondo state Governorship Appeal Committee of the party, also declared his estranged deputy, Agboola Ajayi as a politician of no consequence, vowing to defeat him even in his own local government.
Describing the exit of Ajayi from the APC as good riddance to bad rubbish, the governor advised him to remain in the PDP with Jegede rather than jumping ship again.
"For me, the deputy leaving the APC to return to the PDP is good riddance to bad rubbish. We thought we could accommodate him at the APC but since he returned to where he truly belonged, it is all well and good. I always wish people the best I can.
"From what I have been told, he has lost the ticket and I pray he won't jump to another place but if he does, all well and good. However, for his own sake and as a big brother, I will advise him to stay with Jegede, support him very well.
"He has made a case that he helped me to win, let him help him to win and we will confirm that he is popular. What I know is that he is of no importance, he has no hold on any local government, I can assure you that come during the election, I will defeat him in his local government and he will never recover from it. He is of no influence anywhere and we picked him because we felt we have someone from PDP coming to join us. We picked him to join us but he feels and tells people that he is grass-rooted.
"Let me advise him again to stay with Jegede and let us see what happens. Jegede is my friend. We are colleagues and both members of the inner bar, I don't have anything against him and I just pray that our campaign should be issue-based without violence and I know that he knows that it will not be easy for him. Yes, it may not be easy for me to win, but by His Grace, I am going to win. I can assure that as it was in the beginning, so it shall be now and forevermore. We will win this election by the grace of God".
On his visit to the party secretariat, Akeredolu said two aspirants in the APC had lodged a petition against him and he came around to answer to the charges.
"If some of them claim that the process that produced me is fraudulent, they have right to make such claims, but they should take it to the Appeal Committee and I will respond to it. They have to prove their claims before the committee and until they prove it and convincingly before the Appeal Committee, then I don't need to talk about their claims.
"As you would have noted in my speech where I made it clear that to ensure that I reach out to all the aspirants that contested with me. I have already been to the houses of few of them. I am meeting with the leaders to call stakeholders meeting for us to move ahead on this matter. I believe that there must be reconciliation and good enough that the committee headed by the Niger state governor is making great efforts to ensure that there is genuine reconciliation. I am ready for it. I want people to come so that we can reconcile and work together", he added.
