Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Aborigines have officially endorsed Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s aspiration to secure the party’s governorship ticket after a month-long screening process of all aspirants.
The APC Aborigines established a nine-member committee, led by Hon(Mrs) Christy Olufowose, tasked with screening and narrowing down the pool of aspirants from 12 to three.
The final three candidates include the late Paul Akintelure, Wale Akinterinwa, and the incumbent governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
Following their meeting in Akure, the group’s leader, former Ambassador Sola Iji, declared that after careful evaluation and screening of the governorship aspirants, the APC Aborigines unanimously selected Aiyedatiwa as their preferred candidate.
Iji revealed that after the screening process, the incumbent governor received 777 points, while the late Akintelure scored 612 points, and the former finance commissioner scored 587 points.
He stated that “in contriving the choice of our preferred aspirant, the leaders believed that it is normal and conventional to offer right of first refusal to His Excellency, Hon Lucky Aiyedatiwa as a sitting Governor.
“Additionally, his achievements since assuming office as Governor such as his commitment to infrastructural development, payment of backlog of salaries of workers in Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, the release of N1b to University of Medical Sciences andN1.2b to Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology respectively.
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“Also, his payment of wage awards and January 2017 outstanding salary to civil servants in the state, and return of free shuttle buses for the convenience of students in the state were considered as remarkable score points.
“On the whole, having been satisfied with the conduct and performance of his Excellency, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, we are pleased to inform the general public that he is our preferred aspirant in the forthcoming governorship primary of APC in Ondo State.
“By this decision, we are determined to deploy our numerical strength and resources to ensure the victory of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa at the primary.
“It is our fervent belief that Governor Aiyedatiwa’s candidature will position our party for a resounding victory at the general election and engender good governance in the state”
It will be recalled that the APC Aborigines warned against the commercialisation of the party ticket, urging the party to pick a credible and right aspirant for the November 16, governorship election.
To this end, the APC Aborigines set up a nine-man Committee to evaluate all the party’s governorship aspirants and pick a strong candidate that can win the election and will be a rallying point for members of the party.
The group maintained that the party could not afford to present strangers as the party flagbearers and said what the Aborigines wanted was a government of the APC and not the government of strangers.
TheWitness
