Ahead of the conduct of primary to produce All Progressives Congress candidate for Ondo State governorship election, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Olamide Oladiji and 12 others stormed the party national Secretariat on Monday to pledge support for the incumbent governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
The lawmakers are demanding right of first refusal for Governor Aiyedatiwa ahead of the November 16 governorship elections.
The APC National Working Committee had since fixed April 25 for its primary. Main contenders for the ticket are Chief Olusola Oke, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, National Vice Chairman, North West of the Party, Chief Isaac Kekemeke and Governor Aiyedatiwa.
Honourable Oladiji who led the team to seek consensus ticket for Governor Aiyedatiwa told the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje that the sitting governor aspiring for a fresh mandate has kept faith with the legacy of his former boss, Rotimi Akeredolu, given priority to payment of workers salaries as at when due and sustained warm relationship with the State Parliament.
He said:” We wish to inform you that Ondo state is peaceful. Let me give you assurance that come April 2024, our primary election will be peaceful. We believe in continuity and unity of the APC led government. We don’t want any other political party to snatch this power from us.”
He also thanked the Ganduje-led NWC for its troubleshooting initiative which saved the State from needless rancor during the cold war between Akeredolu and Aiyedatiwa.
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In his response, the APC national chairman while assuring the Lawmakers that his leadership would be fair to all in the forthcoming primaries further urged contending forces in the Ondo State chapter of the party to avoid rancour.
He said: “We can’t disconnect legislators from the office of the party here in Abuja because there is always a relationship between you and the office. I call upon you to cooperate with us as we conduct the primary election.
“In this year’s election in Ondo, there are many things that must happen according to our programme starting with verification of membership, screening of aspirants, purchase of expression of interest and nomination forms, and the primaries to pick candidates.
“Ondo state is an APC state and will continue to maintain it. We need your cooperation to conduct a free and transparent primaries. We believe our members are equal to the task. What we are seeing here is that there would be cooperation, good synergy with state Assembly members. We have planned a well articulated programme for the primaries to produce a candidate.”
