It will be a straight fight between two former deputy governors of late governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state, in the forthcoming governorship election in the state, as Agboola Ajayi, on Thursday, clinched the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the November governorship election in the state.
Ajayi who defeated six other contenders for the ticket, polled 264 votes out of the 621 votes to become the PDP candidate for the party, with Kolade Akinjo polling 157 votes to come second in the race
Other aspirants who contested in the race include, John Ola Mafo, Bosun Arebuwa, Adeolu Akinwumi, Sola Ebiseni and Akinjo Kolade.
Other contestants who participated in the race polled, Ebiseni 99, Akinwumi 64, Akingboye 24, Bosun two votes, and Ola Mafo, nine votes while two votes were voided.
Ajayi, it would be recalled joined the PDP after leaving the APC following an irreconcilable difference with the late governor, Rotimi Akeredolu who is the APC candidate.
The former deputy governor contested the PDP primaries and lost to Mr. Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, who is the party’s flagbearer in the election.
Though, he initially accepted the outcome of the primary election, Agboola days after the primaries, however, dumped the PDP and picked the ticket of the ZLP to contest the election.
Ajayi contested the 2020 governorship election on the platform of ZLPwhere he emerged as the candidate, but lost the election to Akeredolu.
He returned to PDP with Mimiko after the former governor defected to PDP from ZLP.
Ajayi in his speech said the exercise is transparent, free, and fair and devoid of rancour and comm need the committee for being objective in the process.
He appreciated co-contestants, saying “there is no victor, no vanquish in the election and I solicit for your support to ensure that our party returns to power in the November governorship election.
“Let’s join hands together and speak with one voice and work towards reclaiming Ondo for PDP”
Earlier, the chairman of the primary election committee and the Bayelsa State Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, assured the seven aspirants of the party jostling for the party’s ticket of a fair, free, and credible election.
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Ewhrudjakpo, while speaking before the commencement of the primary election in Akure, said the party is set to take over power from the ruling APC in the state.
He said the post primary exercise will be rancour free, assuring that the aspirants have expressed their desire to work with anyone who emerges as the party’s governorship candidate.
The Bayelsa deputy governor said “We are in Ondo state for the conduct of the PDP gubernatorial primaries, where we have seven aspirants and you know electoral rules require that for a candidate to emerge in any party, primaries should be conducted.
“Three forms of elections are provided for in the Electoral Acts 2022, we have the direct, indirect, and consensus primaries. But here today, we are adopting the indirect primaries for which we are here.
“We expect about 627 delegates for the election and we are all set, all members of the panel are here, and the accreditation has started.
“So, we are prepared and the aspirants are in high spirits and they have assured me that they would agree to work together for whoever emerged as the candidate.
“The problem of our party is how to get the power back from the APC that had been taken power from us for the past eight years.
“We expect a very transparent, free, fair, credible, and rancor-free election and I have gotten the commitment of all the aspirants that they would abide by the outcome and we are going to make it as transparent as possible.
“You may be aware of my record that I was the one who conducted the primaries in Osun state and we won in Osun I’m here again to conduct the Ondo state and by the grace of God, we are going to win because the sun of the last year is still the same of this year, so the rain will fall and the farmers would have good harvest.”
. TheWitness
