Tinubu has endorsed Mimiko – Segun Ojo, ACN Chieftain

ACN’s candidate cannot win election –Party chieftain
A former aspirant of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State, Mr Segun Ojo, on Sunday, said the party cannot win the next governorship election in the state because of the choice of its candidate.

Segun Ojo

Ojo said the ACN would not make any inroad into the state with the choice of Mr Rotimi Akeredolu as the party’s standard-bearer in the October 20 election.

Ojo, who is from the same Owo Local Government Area as Akeredolu, noted that the people of the state were too politically sophisticated to a level where they would never allow any candidate posted from outside the state to govern them.

He said: “ACN cannot appoint a district officer for the people of Ondo State. If they have succeeded with it in Osun, Oyo, Ogun and Ekiti states which I know they will regret not so long, they cannot do it in Ondo State. We are a special specie.

“Senator Bola Tinubu himself has endorsed Mimiko for second term. If not he would not have picked Akeredolu in Owo as the candidate of the party.

“The choice of Rotimi Akeredolu is morally wrong. He does not justify it.”

He said he had moved his political group, the Sunshine Rainbow Coalition, out of the ACN, saying the development had left ACN empty in the state.

The former Commissioner for Finance during Chief Adebayo Adefarati’s administration, however, said the group had not defected to any political party but would collaborate with the Labour Party (LP) towards the election.

Ojo said: “What we are doing now is collaborative effort with Mimiko to win the forthcoming election. We have taken decision at our level to collaborate with the Labour Party to ensure Mimiko’s victory. Since we have declared our support for Mimiko, we will make sure we participate in the campaign processes from the ward, local government and state level.”

He said with the majority of the people leaving the ACN and the candidate picked by the party, it was obvious that the party would not win the election as the people of the state would never vote for someone who was not part of them.

He said: “As members of ACN, we were on the field. We had worked and mobilised the people for the party. We also see other aspirants on the field working. If we were to rate all the aspirants in what they have done in the various local governments, Akeredolu was the least.

“He never toured any local government and that is why they are taking him to the wards to introduce him to the party people.

This shows that he is not known. The selection process is faulty. If he knows the wards, he should have started the programme of campaigns now.”

Ojo said it would be very difficult to sell Akeredolu because those who were supposed to do that had moved to either the LP or the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He said: “Those who are supposed to sell the candidature of the candidate have abandoned the party for those who think their word is law. “Honourable Segun Ojo has moved out his members; Dr Olu Agunloye has officially joined the LP while Saka Lawal has joined the PDP. Professor Boroffice’s supporters had left him in ACN; he is the only one there because of his position in the Senate.

Oke counters Mimiko, says he’s prepared for leadership
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State, Chief Olusola Oke, on Saturday, debunked insinuation that he was not ready for leadership, saying he was prepared to govern the state.

Apart from this, he said he would govern the state with the fear of God and he would formulate policies and implement programmes that would serve the interest of the people of the state.

Speaking at the ward rallies of the party in Akure, the state capital, Oke said he had always been ready to give leadership to the people of the state at any given opportunity.

The state governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, had during the kick off of his campaign in Owo said the PDP’s candidate and his counterpart in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, were not prepared for governorship in the state.

The governor had described Akeredolu as a foreigner in the state, saying the ACN standard-bearer did not register to vote in the state neither had he ever voted in the state.

Mimiko said Akeredolu suddenly woke up with the idea of governing the state.

Mimiko said Oke had wanted to be minister but when that failed decided to be the secretary of the party and when that finally failed decided to contest the governorship position.

The former national legal adviser of the PDP, however, argued that he was a well known personality in the state, who had always made himself available for the position of leadership.

Speaking on his plans for the state capital, he said the PDP government would ensure speedy completion of the rehabilitation of the old Akure township stadium so that the state-owned footfall clubs would not go to Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State to play their home matches.

Disloyal party memmbers trying to prevent Oke from contesting, PDP cries out
THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State, on Sunday, raised the alarm over attempt by some members to use the court to prevent the party’s standard-bearer, Chief Olusola Oke, from contesting the October 20 governorship poll.

The party claimed that some fifth columnists and disloyal party members still masquerading as members of the PDP were bent on embarrassing the party towards the poll.

A statement by the Director of Publicity of the party, Ayo Fadaka, said the latest plan was to approach the courts again to seek an injunction that was targeted at its governorship candidate.

He accused the disloyal members of working for the interest of the state governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko.

He said: “Their latest plan, which they were to be implement last week, could not be executed because the vacation judge on duty, Honourable Justice Akeredolu, refused to allow herself to be used to constitute an ambush to justice and thus have now perfected plans to unleash this dastardly act this week when hopefully an amenable judge will be on seat.

“This conclusion was reached at a meeting last Tuesday where they appreciated the fact that what they were pursuing is an illegality but yet concluded that they must put in place an agenda that will constitute a stumbling block to our candidate, Chief Olusola Oke.

The party, therefore, called on the Chief Judge of the Federation to take a cursory attention to the recent actions of the judiciary in Ondo State.