Battle of Akeredolu’s deputies as Aiyedatiwa, Ajayi pick APC, PDP tickets

The path to the November 16 governorship election in Ondo became more evident as the two main political parties—the opposition PDP and the ruling APC—elected their nominees in advance of the contest in an attempt to take the top seat in Alagbaka.

The APC candidate, Governor Aiyedatiwa, emerged last week at a keenly contested shadow election in a battle with 15 other governorship contenders of the party who participated in the exercise that was supervised by Usman Ododo, the Kogi State governor and chairman of the seven-member committee set up by the national secretariat of the party to monitor the exercise.

The emergence of Aiyedatiwa came 24 hours after Ododo ordered a rerun of the shadow election in 13 wards of Okitipupa Local Government, which is the domain of one of the aspirants, Jimoh Ibrahim, following complaints that the exercise was not held in the local government due to the late arrival of materials and personnel as a result of logistics challenges.

Before Aiyedatiwa emerged as the candidate of the APC, the sudden death of his former boss, Akeredolu, who had full control of the structure of the party in the state without naming his preferred successor, caused division among the stalwarts and aspirants as the once united “Aketi” loyalists went in their different ways.

Aiyedatiwa faced fierce contestants, among whom were heavyweight and experienced politicians, in the primary exercise that was engulfed with controversies, complaints, protests and violence.

Some of the governorship aspirants, which included Olugbenga Edema, Olusola Oke, Wale Akinterinwa, Jimi Odimayo, Ifeoluwa Oyedele, Dayo Faduyile and Jimoh Ibrahim, had also called for the cancellation of the exercise and even the replacement of Ododo as the chairman of the election committee, alleging that the process was marred with irregularities and primary election of the party did not take place in the state.

Amid the hues and cries over the primary by the aggrieved aspirants, the state commissioner for health, Dr Banji Ajaka, who was alleged to have been supporting and rooting for the emergence of Aiyedatiwa, was beaten to a stupor by angry members of the APC at his Ugbo ward 3 in Ilaje Local Government Area, for allegedly hiding the result sheet.

However, Aiyedatiwa’s eventual emergence as the party’s standard bearer for the November 16 governorship election had earlier been predicted as he had worked seriously to get the ticket of the party, and if the body language of the National Working Committee of the party, led by Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, is anything to go by, the party has no plan of revisiting the primary election. Though the first reconciliation meeting held between Ganduje and the aspirants on Thursday ended in a deadlock, senior party officials said the only option was further consultations with the aggrieved aspirants.

In the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Agboola Ajayi, who served as the late Akeredolu’s deputy between 2017 and 2021 before falling out with him, emerged as the candidate of the opposition party, setting up a grand battle with the man who replaced him as the number two citizen of the Sunshine State.

Ajayi had resigned his membership in the ruling party on June 21, 2020 and joined the PDP following the feud between him and the late Akeredolu.

Ajayi is not a newcomer in the race, having earlier contested the PDP primary but lost to Eyitayo Jegede, who eventually became the candidate of the party then. He headed to the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and joined former Governor Olusegun Mimiko but returned to the PDP.

Ajayi, who hails from Kiribo town in Ese Odo Local Government Area, is generally considered a heavyweight politician in the PDP and from the southern part of the state. He served as a member of the House of Representatives and represented the Ilaje/Ese Odo federal constituency under the PDP, serving as the chairman of the House Committee on the NDDC from 2007 to 2010, a position it was believed he used to warm his way into the hearts of the people of his area across different parties.

Analysts believe that part of the factors that worked for him to emerge as the candidate of the PDP is his political experience and being a grassroots politician who started politics with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and understood the game.

Credit: Daily Trust