Ondo: Mimiko, Oke, Akeredolu emerge gov candidates

The three main political parties contesting the October 20 governorship election in Ondo State, the Labour Party (LP), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), on Saturday, conducted primaries to select their candidates for the election.

While the ruling LP returned the governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, the ACN ratified the choice of former National President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, and the PDP elected former National Legal Adviser of the party, Chief Olusola Oke, as its candidate.

Apart from this, Mimiko announced his deputy, Alhaji Alli Olanusi, as his running mate for the election, while Oke picked a former governorship aspirant of the ACN, Saka Lawal, as his running mate while the ACN is yet to decide on the running mate.

The primaries, in which delegates from the 203 wards of the state participated, were hitch-free and witnessed by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

At the LP primaries held at the Cultural Centre, Adegbemile, the aspirant who contended against Mimiko, a chieftain of the party from the Southern senatorial district, Chief Ade Ogunejumelo, stepped down for the governor, citing the need to protect the interest of the party.

“My withdrawal should not come as a surprise; it is because of my belief in the overall interest of our great party. I am declaring to you all that I will die a Labour Party member,” he said.

The governor was then given the second term ticket through affirmation by the party delegates from across the 18 local government areas of the state at the exercise conducted by LP national chairman, Dan Nwanyanwu, and monitored by the Alhaji Ali Abacha-led Election Committee in the state capital, Akure.

In his acceptance speech, Dr. Mimiko described the primary as “an exercise of purity worthy of adoption by other political parties in the country in the efforts to ensure the sustenance of democracy.

The ACN candidate on his part assured members of the party that it would win the election and put in place a government that would better the lot of the people of the state.