From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The chances of the incumbent governor and the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in this weekend’s Ondo State governorship election, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, have suffered a setback following the threats from factions of the party to work against him.
Some factions of the ruling party under the auspices of Ondo Patriots (OP) made their grievances known in the official petition sent to the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, to inform the party of the decision to work against Governor Aiyedatiwa in the forthcoming governorship poll.
The factions, in the letter, declared their intention to support the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Otunba Benson Akingboye.
In the copy of the acknowledged letter made available to newsmen in Abuja, the factions disclosed that they have already begun massive mobilisation for the candidate of the SDP.
The letter, signed by the coordinator of the aggrieved group, Comrade Dele Oyewo, claimed that Akingboye of SDP is more or less an APC family member “whose track record and philosophy are similar to that of our dear President Bola Tinubu. He had on various platforms recognized President Tinubu as an epitome of modern politics that Nigeria can have.”
While giving more reasons for their decision, the factions, noted in the letter: “Following the background that our dear party leadership in Abuja has sided Governor Aiyedatiwa’s questionable emergence at the shallow primaries conducted in April 2024, the leadership of the various organising groups within the party structure in the state for the umpteenth time, hereby re-emphasize that it is going to be almost impossible to work with the party and the governor on the November 16th governorship election.
“This is not unconnected with the facts that the youth’s kind gesture and loyalty have severally been taking for granted not only in Ondo State but in the country at large. In the spiritual realm, the primitive and dangerous atmosphere of the do-or-die primary conducted by Governor Ododo of Kogi State on the instruction of Aiyedatiwa is not only inimical but detrimental to the fortune of the good people of our state, according to the natural laws guiding existence.
“But we discovered that the party leadership in Abuja is not in any way concerned about the wellbeing of citizens of Ondo state, rather they prefer their own choice of settlement over any form of resulting consequences. The voices of people in Ondo state, an appendage of the APC, hereby condemn the derailment and gross misconduct against the party ethics in line with choice of Governor Aiyedatiwa,” the letter read
On why they settled for the SDP candidate, the factions said: “Having gone through the credentials of all the major contenders for the forthcoming governorship election in our dear state, we the major APC groups in Ondo state, have decided to pick Otunba Akingboye of SDP as our choice.
“Although silent mobilization has been ongoing, we however decided this time, to inform our party because of myriad of ‘I don care’ attitude that the APC leadership in Abuja has been displaying to matters like this that concerns the youth of Ondo State long before. We cannot continue to die in silence and showcase total loyalty to the destiny wasters in our state.
“If truly the party leadership is concerned about the great future of our dear party and the good people of Ondo state, it will see this write-up as a clarion call rather than attack on the party,” the letter read.
