Ahead of the October 10 Ondo governorhip election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate and governor of the state, Rotimi Akeredolu, has boasted that he will defeat Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Eyitayo Jegede, and deputy governor of the state, Agboola Ajayi, in their local government areas.
Akeredolu who spoke with journalists at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja on Monday advised his deputy, Ajayi, to stay back in the PDP and not dump the party because he has lost the governorship ticket.
The Governor who admitted that it may not be easy for him to defeat the PDP’s candidate, however said: “by His Grace, I am going to win. I can assure that as it was in the beginning, so it shall be now and forever more. We will win this election by the grace of God.”
Speaking on the defection of his Deputy to the PDP he said: “For me, the deputy leaving the APC to return to the PDP is good radiance to bad rubbish. We thought we could accommodate him at the APC but since he returned to where he truly belong, it is all well and good. I always wish people the best I can.
“From what I have been told, he has lost the ticket and I pray he won’t jump to another place but if he does, all well and good. However, for his own sake and as a big brother, I will advice him to stay back
“He has made a case that he helped me to win, let him help him to win and we will confirm that he is popular. What I know is that he is of no importance, he has no hold on any local government, I can assure you that come during the election, I will defeat him in his local government and he will never recover from it. He is of no influence anywhere and we picked because we felt we have someone from PDP coming to join us. We picked him to join us but he felt and tells people that he is grassrooted.
“Let me advice him again to stay with Jegede and let us see what happens. Jegede is my friend. We are colleagues and both members of inner bar, I don’t have anything against him and I just prayed that our campaign should be issue based without violence and I know that he knows that it will not be easy for him.”
While expressing readiness to reconcile with other aggrieved aspirants who contested the APC ticket with him, Akeredolu said: “As you would have noted in my speech where I made it clear that to ensure that I reach out to all the aspirants that contested with me. I have already been to the houses of few of them. I am meeting with the leaders to call stakeholders meeting for us to move ahead on this matter.
“I believe that there must be reconciliation and good enough that the committee headed by the Niger state governor is making great effort to ensure that there is genuine reconciliation. I am ready for it. I want people to come so that we can reconcile and work together”.
